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BR  121  .H44  190b 

Hall,  Charles 

Cuthbert , 

185: 

-1908. 

The  universal 

elements  of 

the  Christian  religion 

THE  UNIVERSAL  ELEMENTS 

OF  THE 

CHRISTIAN     RELIGION 


vX 


The   Cole   Lectures  for   igo^ 
delivered  before  Vanderhilt  Universitv 


The     Universal     Elements 
of   the    Christian   Religion 


*     APR   8  1909     * 


An  attempt  to  interpret  contem- 
porary   religious    conditions 


By  r>< 
CHARLES  CUTHBERT  HALL,  DD.,  LL.  D. 

President  of  the  Union  Theological  Seminary,  New  York 


New  York  Chicago  Toronto 

Fleming    H.    Revell    Company 

London    and    Edinburgh 


Copyright,    1905,  bv 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


Third    Edition 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  80  Wabash  Avenue 
Toronto:  27  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:      100     Princes    Street 


THE  COLE  LECTURES 

THE  late   Colonel  E.  W.  Cole  of  Nashville,  Ten- 
nessee, donated  to  Vanderbilt  University  the  sum 
of  five  thousand  dollars,  aftervi^ards  increased  by 
his  widow  to  ten  thousand ;  the   design  and  conditions 
of  which  gift  are  stated  as  follows  : 

"  The  object  of  this  fund  is  to  establish  a  foundation 
for  a  perpetual  Lectureship  in  connection  with  the  Bib- 
lical Department  of  the  University,  to  be  restricted  in  its 
scope  to  a  defense  and  advocacy  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion. The  lectures  shall  be  delivered  at  such  inter- 
vals, from  time  to  time,  as  shall  be  deemed  best  by  the 
Board  of  Trust;  and  the  particular  theme  and  lecturer 
shall  be  determined  by  nomination  of  the  Theological 
Faculty  and  confirmation  of  the  College  of  Bishops  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  Said  lecture 
shall  always  be  reduced  to  writing  in  full,  and  the  man- 
uscript of  the  same  shall  be  the  property  of  the  Univer- 
sity, to  be  published  or  disposed  of  by  the  Board  of 
Trust  at  its  discretion,  the  net  proceeds  arising  there- 
from to  be  added  to  the  foundation  fund,  or  otherwise 
used  for  the  benefit  of  the  Biblical  Department." 


To  the  Reverend 

The  Bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 

South 

with  admiratio7i 

for  their  character 

their  experience 

a7td 

their  far-reaching  labours 

in 

the  Kingdom  of  God 

these  Lectures 

are 

dedicated 


Nonne  vos  dicitis^  quod  adhuc 
qicatuor  metises  sunt^  et  messis 
venit  ?  Ecce  dico  vobis  :  Lev  ate 
oculos  vestros^  et  videte  regiones^ 
quia  albcB  sunt  jafn  ad  mess  em. 

Jesu  Christi  Evangelium  secundem  Joannem. 


O  Almighty  God,  who  hast  built 
Thy  Church  upoit  the  foundation 
of  the  Apostles  and  Prophets^ 
Jesiis  Christ  Himself  being  the 
chief  cor7ier-st07ie :  Grajit  us  so 
to  be  joined  together  in  unity 
of  spirit  by  their  doctrine,  that 
we  may  be  made  an  holy  temple 
acceptable  unto  Thee;  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.     Amen. 

Ancient  Collect. 


Contents 


Preface 


13 


The  Church  and  the  Christian- 
ization  of  the  world      .        .21 

The  Bearing  of  Sectarian  Move- 
ments Upon  the  Christianiza- 
TiON  of  the  World  ...      57 

The  Recovery  of  the  Apostolic 

Theology loi 

The  Saviour  OF  THE  World   .       .151 

The  Constructive  Office  of  Bib- 
lical Criticism  .        .        .        .205 

The  Larger  Church  of  Christ     .    257 


IZ 


Preface 

THE  following  Lectures  represent  an 
attempt  to  interpret  contemporary 
religious  conditions.  Our  Lord  is 
reported,  in  the  Third  Gospel,  as  saying: 
''  When  ye  see  a  cloud  rising  in  the  west, 
straightway  ye  say,  There  cometh  a 
shower;  and  so  it  cometh  to  pass.  And 
when  ye  see  a  south  wind  blowing,  ye  say, 
There  will  be  a  scorching  heat;  and  it 
cometh  to  pass.  Ye  know  how  to  interpret 
the  face  of  the  earth  and  the  heaven ;  but 
how  is  it  that  ye  know  not  how  to  interpret 
this  time?"  The  effort  to  understand  one's 
own  time  is  commended  by  Christ.  It  also 
commends  itself  to  the  reason  and  the  con- 
science. To  live  is  a  privilege  and  an 
opportunity,  measured  by  the  sincerity  of 
one's  desire  to  know  the  will  of  God  and 
to  lend  oneself  to  the  advancement  of  His 
Kingdom.  It  m.ay  be  that  each  age  has 
13 


14  PREFACE 

seemed  wonderful  and  significant  to  some 
who  have  lived  in  it.  But,  without  doubt, 
the  present  age  challenges  the  interest  of  all 
thoughtful  minds.  Great  changes  are  taking 
place ;  suggesting  others,  still  greater,  to 
follow.  It  is  difficult  to  realize  that  any  one 
can  be  unconscious  of  the  fundamental 
reconstructions  that  are  looming  up  on 
the  horizon  of  possibility  in  many  lines  of 
religious  thinking.  Outwardly  the  institu- 
tional status  quo  continues,  as  between  the 
sects  of  Protestantism ;  as  between  the 
Protestant,  Roman  and  Greek  communions ; 
as  between  Christianity  and  non-Christian 
faiths ;  as  between  West  and  East.  The 
unobservant,  trusting  to  institutional  ap- 
pearances, may  immerse  themselves  in  local 
affairs  and  persuade  themselves  that  all 
things  continue  as  they  were  from  the  be- 
ginning. Meanwhile,  to  those  who  obey  our 
Lord's  command,  "•  Levate  oculos  vestros, 
et  videte  regiones,"  the  whole  face  of  Chris- 
tendom and  of  the  world  seems  as  a  vast 
harvest-field  of  ripening  grain,  swaying  and 
bowing   like  the  fluent  billows  of   the  sea, 


PREFACE  15 

beneath  the  breathing  of  the  viewless  Wind 
of  God.  Many  elements  of  an  order  re- 
garded for  generations  as  unchangeable  are 
in  process  of  change.  Many  sectarian  issues, 
long  thought  to  be  vital,  cease  to  interest  the 
public  mind,  which  is  absorbed  in  larger 
questions.  Influences,  emanating  from  Prot- 
estant convictions  of  religious  liberty  of  con- 
science, are  reacting  upon  the  Roman  com- 
munion, which  gives  forth  signs  of  impend- 
ing reconstructions.  Light  has  been  thrown 
on  Oriental  thought,  and  the  East  moves 
inquiringly  towards  Christ.  The  Bible, 
emerging  from  the  strenuous  controversies 
of  sixty  years,  assumes  a  new  authority  over 
human  thinking;  an  authority  more  power- 
ful because  of  the  spirit  rather  than  of 
the  letter.  The  Divine  Spirit  is  moving 
mightily.  Searchings  of  heart  are  every- 
where. A  glorious  vision  of  God  has 
swept  like  sunlight  across  the  field  of 
thought.  The  influence  of  religion  upon 
university  life  is  unprecedented.  Universities 
of  the  West  are  entering  the  field  of  world- 
Christianization   and   projecting  themselves 


I 6  PREFACE 

into  regions  of  the  Neaier  and  Fariher  East 
The  Christian  students  of  the  world  have 
placed  themselves  upon  a  basis  that  dis- 
cards racial  and  sectarian  distinctions  and 
have  undertaken  to  propagate  the  undiffer- 
entiated essence  of  the  Christian  religion. 
Christianity,  rooted  in  the  East,  approaches 
at  many  points  the  stage  of  self-determining 
development,  and  is  producing  leaders 
competent  to  form  institutions  and  literature 
of  an  Oriental  Church  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Such  are  some  of  the  phenomena  of  the 
present  time.  That  they  are  coordinated 
parts  of  God's  redemptive  plan  for  the 
world  none  can  doubt  who  believes  that 
every  purpose  of  Christ's  Incarnation  shall 
be  fulfilled.  But  the  study  of  contemporary 
conditions  is  a  work  of  much  difficulty.  The 
obser^^er  stands  in  the  midst  of  his  objects  of 
study.  Perspective  is  not  readily  obtained. 
The  significance  of  relationships  may  be 
misapprehended.  Qualities  of  personal 
temperament  cherished  personal  associa- 
tions, unconscious  prejudxe  may  pieoccupy 
the  mind  and  distuib  ^he  equipoise  of  judg- 


PREFACE  17 

ment.  One  may  be  tempted  to  read  into 
the  present  time  an  interpretation  unduly 
affected  by  one's  preferences  and  hopes. 

My  consciousness  of  these,  and  other, 
limitations  presses  upon  me  as  I  make 
public  these  Lectures.  I  have  tried  to  dis- 
cover the  deeper  tendency  of  the  religious 
thinking  of  our  time,  wherein  the  critical 
movement,  the  modern  view  of  the  Bible, 
the  declining  interest  in  sectarianism,  the 
increased  cosmopolitanism  and  the  larger 
conceptions  of  world-Christianization  are 
powerful  elements.  It  is  true  that  I  speak 
from  the  point  of  view  of  one  holding  the 
Pauline  and  Johannine  view  of  the  Person 
and  Work  of  our  Blessed  Lord.  But  I 
trust  that  my  interpretation  of  modern 
conditions,  especially  as  set  forth  in  the 
Lecture  on  ''  The  Recovery  of  the  Apostolic 
Theology"  represents  much  more  than  a 
fond  wish.  It  is  the  expression  of  my 
deepest  conviction  concerning  the  actual 
meaning  and  outcome  of  the  present 
momentous  situation.  That  the  current 
disposition    to    minimize   the    metaphysical 


I 8  PREFACE 

aspects  of  the  New  Testament,  and  to  reduce 
the  Christian  basis  to  the  narratives  of  the 
Synoptists  points  to  a  permanent  evacuation 
of  the  major  apostolic  positions,  seems  to  me 
wholly  incredible  ;  the  theory  of  a  school, 
unsupported  by  the  consensus  of  Chris- 
tian thinking.  On  the  other  hand,  I  believe 
that  the  larger  movement  of  thought,  both 
in  Protestantism  and  in  the  Roman  com- 
munion, returns  like  a  tide  **  too  full  for 
sound  or  foam  "  to  the  apostolic  faith  in  a 
Mediator  whose  nature  can  be  neither 
fathomed  nor  limited ;  in  whose  immortal 
fullness  lie  untold  possibilities,  for  the  recon- 
struction of  the  Church  on  larger  lines  than 
any  yet  projected,  and  for  the  reconciliation 
of  the  world  to  God.  It  is  not  improbable 
that,  in  the  course  of  these  Lectures,  I  have 
at  times  yielded  to  the  enthusiasm  and 
buoyancy  of  hope,  notwithstanding  every 
effort  to  maintain  a  temper  of  judicial  self- 
restraint.  I  may,  also,  by  reason  of  igno- 
rance, have  represented  inadequately  the 
opinions  of  others.  For  such  errors,  the 
fruits   of   no    perverse  intention,   I    ask   the 


PREFACE  19 

charity  of  my  readers.  My  attitude  towards 
sectarian  institutions  is  one  of  reverent  ap- 
preciation, although  I  cannot  regard  them, 
as,  in  their  present  form,  an  adequate  ex- 
pression of  the  genius  of  the  Church  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 

I  wish,  in  conclusion,  to  express  my  ap- 
preciation of  the  earnestness,  devotion  and 
breadth  of  view  that  mark  Vanderbilt 
University,  the  Bishops  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  the  Southern 
circles  of  Christian  culture.  To  have  dwelt 
among  such  associations  for  a  time,  is  to 
have  experienced  an  enrichment  of  life.  As 
one  who  has  been  in  the  East  hears,  ever- 
more, **  the  East  a'  calling,"  so,  to  have  been 
admitted  to  the  fellowship  of  the  beautiful, 
gracious,  sensitive,  intellectual,  religious 
South  is  to  have  heard  a  voice  that  must 
echo  in  one's  remembrance  to  the  end. 

Charles  Cuthbert  Hall. 

Synton,  Westport  Point,  Massachusetts^ 
August^  igos. 


LECTURE  I 

THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  CHRIS- 
TIANIZATION    OF    THE   WORLD 


LECTURE  I 

THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  CHRIS- 
TIANIZATION    OF   THE   WORLD 

THE  ultimate  standard  by  which  to 
measure  the  efforts  of  the  Church 
for  the  Christianization  of  the  world 
is  the  untrammelled  cosmopolitanism  of  the 
mind   of   Christ.     For   Him   there  were  no 
race  prejudices,  no  party  lines,  no  sectarian 
limits,  no  favoured  nation.     There  was  noth- 
ing between  His  love  and  the  world.     His 
heart  beat  for  the  world—and,  on  Calvary, 
broke    for    the    world.     His    knowledge    of 
Himself  in  world  relations  was  the  essence  of 
simplicity.     *'  I  am  the  Light  of  the  world." ' 
"  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw 
all    men    unto   Myself."^     The    Lord   Jesus 
Christ,   in   His  Incarnate  ministry,  was  the 
Divine    Man   without    a    country.     "Foxes 
have  holes,"  He  said,  ''  and  birds  of  the  air 
have  nests,  but  the  Son  of  Man  hath  not 

1  John  8:  12.  '  M"  »2:32. 

23 


24  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE 

where  to  lay  His  head."  ^  It  is  true  that  He 
came  of  the  house  and  hneage  of  David ; 
that  in  childhood  and  youth  He  abode  with 
His  parents  and  was  subject  unto  them  ;  that 
from  the  cross  He  looked  upon  His  mother, 
acknowledged  the  filial  bond,  arranged  for 
her  protection.  In  this  He  honoured  ties  of 
country,  blood-relationship,  personal  love. 
But  in  His  knowledge  of  Himself  as  Son  of 
Man  and  Son  of  God,  He  rose  above  kindred 
and  country  to  embrace  the  world.  "  Who 
is  My  mother?  and  who  are  My  brethren?" 
He  asks  ;  and  answers,  "Whosoever  shall  do 
the  will  of  My  Father  which  is  in  heaven,  the 
same  is  My  brother  and  sister  and  mother,"  ^ 
To  measure  up  to  the  cosmopolitanism  of 
the  mind  of  Christ,  to  take  His  simple  view 
of  duty  to  the  world,  is  the  challenge  that  has 
faced  the  Church  from  the  beginning.  And 
from  the  beginning  she  has  faltered  before 
that  challenge  ;  not  because  it  is  too  difficult, 
but  because  it  is  too  simple.  Always  the 
Church  has  been  proposing  to  have  some- 
thing done,  other  and  more  difiicult  than  the 

1  Luke  9 :  58.  «  Matt.  12  :  48-50. 


CHRISTIANIZATION    OF   THE   WORLD      25 

thing  which  Christ  would  have  to  be  done. 
Shortly  before  the  Ascension  He  drew  aside 
the  apostolic  group,  then  the  nucleus  of  the 
Church,  to  give  it  parting  counsel.  Perceiv- 
ing that  some  plan  of  action  was  about  to  be 
announced,  they  thought  of  one  of  the  most 
difficult  and  delicate  things  that  could  be 
done,  a  thing  that  would  involve  a  political 
revolution :  "  Lord,  dost  Thou  at  this  time 
restore  the  kingdom  to  Israel?"  What 
grave  gentleness  of  rebuke — what  revelation 
of  a  simpler  and  larger  plan,  in  His  reply : 
''  It  is  not  for  you  to  know  times  or  seasons, 
which  the  Father  hath  set  within  His  own 
authority.  But  ye  shall  receive  power,  when 
the  Holy  Ghost  is  come  upon  you,  and  ye  shall 
be  My  witnesses  unto  .  .  .  the  uttermost 
part  of  the  earth."  ^  What  contrast  between 
their  thought  and  His  :  theirs  the  thought  of 
a  cozij)  d^ etat  in  Palestine,  a  local  clash  in  a 
corner  of  the  Roman  Empire — His  the 
thought  of  sending  His  messengers  of  peace, 
in  the  power  of  the  Spirit,  unto  the  uttermost 
part  of  the  earth — to  Christianize  the  world  1 

1  Acts  1 :  6-8. 


26  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE 

Even  after  Pentecost,  with  its  anointing  for 
world-wide  service,  other  misconceptions 
within  the  Church  partly  nullified  for  her  the 
cosmopolitanism  of  Jesus  Christ.  Chief  of 
these,  perhaps,  was  provincialism.  Peter, 
called  to  Christianize  some  Gentiles,  falters, 
under  an  impression  that  outside  of  Israel 
can  be  no  moral  basis  on  which  to  work. 
To  his  thinking  the  Gentile  world  was  the 
outer  darkness  ;  corrupt,  abominable,  unre- 
lieved by  any  spiritual  gleam.  But  in  Cor- 
nelius he  finds  a  heathen  by  name,  who  is  a 
disciple  and  a  saint  in  fact ;  and  Peter's  con- 
fession is  as  manly  in  its  frankness  as  it  is  in- 
teresting in  its  suggestion  of  many  a  modern 
surprise  over  a  similar  discovery  :  *'  I  per- 
ceive that  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  but 
in  every  nation  he  that  feareth  Him  and 
worketh  righteousness  is  acceptable  to  Him."  ^ 
In  contrast  with  this  early  provincialism  in 
the  Christian  group,  how  superb  is  the  cos- 
mopolitanism of  St.  Paul  in  his  ultimatum  to 
the  Jews,  spoken  in  the  synagogue  at 
Antioch  :    "It  was  necessary  that  the  Word 

»Acts  lo:  34,  35. 


CHRISTIANIZATION   OF  THE  WORLD     27 

of  God  should  first  be  spoken  to  you. 
Seeing  ye  thrust  it  from  you,  and  judge 
yourselves  unworthy  of  eternal  life,  lo,  we 
turn  to  the  Gentiles.  For  so  hath  the  Lord 
commanded  us  saying :  I  have  set  thee  for  a 
light  of  the  Gentiles,  that  thou  shouldest  be 
for  salvation  unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the 
earth." ' 

In  every  age  the  cosmopolitanism  of  Jesus 
Christ  has  appealed  to  individual  Christian 
souls,  by  reason  of  its  simplicity  and  its  di- 
rectness. In  every  age  it  has  been  answered 
by  the  enthusiasm  of  some  who  broke  out  of 
the  ranks  of  sectarian  order  and  over  the 
barriers  of  race  antipathy  to  recognize  in 
the  non-Christian  world  fellow  seekers  after 
truth,  who,  though  ignorant  of  western  the- 
ology, might  not  be  far  from  the  Kingdom 
of  God.  In  our  time  Christian  Endeavour 
and  Christian  Association  world-movements 
have  been  marked  responses  to  the  cosmo- 
politanism of  Christ,  gathering  their  impulse 
and  drawing  their  authority  from  the  sim- 
plicity and  immediateness  of  the  relation  of 

» Acts  13:  46. 


28  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE 

the  Son  of  God  to  all  the  sons  of  men.  Bui 
the  Church  in  its  corporate  life,  as  the  or- 
ganized group  appointed  to  Christianize  the 
world,  has  found  serious  difficulties  in  carry- 
ing out  the  task  entrusted  to  it.  As  He  out- 
lined that  task  it  seemed  simple.  As  we 
have  interpreted  it,  it  has  become  complex. 
Recall  His  outline  of  the  duty  entrusted  to 
the  Church  :  "  All  authority  hath  been  given 
unto  Me  in  heaven  and  on  earth.  Go  ye, 
therefore,  and  make  disciples  of  all  the 
nations,  baptizing  them  into  the  Name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost ;  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things 
whatsoever  I  commanded  you ;  and  lo,  I  am 
with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the 
world."  ^  Wonderful  in  their  absoluteness  are 
these  instructions  as  one  reflects  upon  them ! 
Christ  assumes  entire  responsibility  for  the 
work  appointed  :  ''  All  authority  hath  been 
given  unto  Me  in  heaven  and  on  earth." 
It  is  not  for  us  to  question  the  adequacy  of 
the  mission  committed  to  the  Church,  to  add 
to  it  in  any  way,  to  establish  tests  that  He 

Matt.  28:  I&-20. 


CHRISTIANIZATION   OF  THE  WORLD      29 

has  not  authorized,  to  lay  down  conditions 
that  He  has  not  sanctioned,  to  put  up  bars 
where  He  allows  an  open  entrance.  The  au- 
thority is  His,  not  ours. 

Wonderful  are  these  instructions  for  clear- 
ness, as  conveying  to  us  what  the  Christian- 
ization  of  the  world  means  in  the  thought  of 
Christ.  It  means  to  make  disciples  for  Him 
of  all  the  nations — not  disciples  of  the  Church, 
converts  to  certain  schools  of  theological 
opinion :  but,  in  all  the  nations,  to  win  dis- 
ciples for  Christ,  to  draw  men  to  Him,  as, 
on  earth.  He  drew  men  to  Himself ;  so  to  set 
Him  forth,  in  all  the  world,  that  the  irresist- 
ible attraction  of  His  Personality  shall  lay 
hold  of  all  kindred  spirits  and  gather  them 
around  Him.  It  means  to  give  this  gather- 
ing band  of  disciples,  so  cosmopolitan  in 
character,  a  sacramental  bond  for  purposes 
of  mutual  self-realization  and  companionship, 
whereby  they  shall  know  that  they  are  one 
in  their  common  Head:  "baptizing  them 
into  the  Name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son, 
and  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  It  means  to  teach 
this  gathering  band  of  disciples  how  to  trans- 


W 


30  THE  CHURCH   AND  THE 

late  into  the  terms  of  life  and  conduct  the 
very  mind  and  word  of  Him  whose  glorious 
Person,  as  the  manifested  God,  has  drawn 
them  to  Himself:  "Teaching  them  to  ob- 
serve (to  practice,  to  incarnate  in  thought 
and  in  life)  all  things,  whatsoever  I  com- 
manded you."  This  is,  to  Christianize  the 
world. 

Wonderful  are  these  instructions  for  as- 
surance of  sympathetic  cooperation  on  His 
part.  We  are  not  left  to  fulfill  this  task 
alone,  with  the  chance  of  failing  by  reason  of 
our  limitations  :  *'  Lo  I  am  wdth  you  alway, 
even  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  Christ 
Himself,  by  His  vitalizing  Spirit  present  in 
the  Church,  would  direct  the  Christianization 
of  the  w^orld. 

So,  the  Saviour,  born,  according  to  the 
flesh,  of  an  Oriental  stock,  commits  the 
work  begun  by  Himself  to  a  group  of  Ori- 
ental apostles,  chosen  and  ordained  in  Pales- 
tine, the  crossroads  of  the  world,  set  mid- 
way between  East  and  West.  For  a  little 
they  falter,  unable  to  grasp  the  cosmic  sim- 
plicity of    His   instructions,  doubting  if  He 


CHRISTIANIZATION   OF  THE  WORLD      3 1 

really  means  to  treat  all  men  alike,  ignoring 
race  distinctions.  Then,  when  the  Original 
Band  is  augmented  by  the  unfettered  soul 
of  Paul,  who,  though  as  one  born  out  of  due 
time,  yet  springs  by  sheer  greatness  to  the 
real  primacy  in  the  Apostolate,  the  Chris- 
tianization  of  the  world  begins,  westward  and 
eastward.  In  the  blended  light  of  history 
and  legend  we  see  those  first  great  Chris- 
tianizers  speeding  apart — St.  Paul  to  Italy ; 
St.  Thomas,  so  it  may  be,  to  the  Malabar 
Coast  of  India.  For  a  season  the  Christian- 
izing energy  of  the  Apostolic  Age  persisted  ; 
at  length  forces  quickened  within  the  Church 
absorbed  its  attention  ;  events  pressing  from 
without  hid  the  primitive  world-vision.  Con- 
troversies, theological,  metaphysical,  eccle- 
siastical, developed  the  institutional  interests 
of  western  Christendom,  interests  henceforth 
to  seem  of  more  importance  to  the  Church 
than  the  simple  personal  ministry  of  recon- 
ciliation that  had  occupied  the  mind  of 
Christ. 

Greek  Christianity  and  Latin  Christianity 
divided  and  stood  arrayed,  the  one  against 


32  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE 

the  Other.  The  power  of  Mohammedanism 
arose,  the  most  enormous  of  the  influences 
opposing  the  Christianization  of  the  world. 
It  stood  between  Europe  and  the  Orient,  clos- 
ing the  natural  lines  of  intercommunication, 
absorbing  the  land  of  Christ's  Nativity  and 
Sacrifice,  menacing  the  West,  inundating  the 
East.  Christianity,  primarily  Oriental  in 
form,  perished  in  the  home  of  apostles  and 
survived  in  Europe  under  conventionalized 
and  altered  modes,  as  far  from  the  primitive 
type  as  the  West  is  from  the  East.  With 
the  Revival  of  Learning  came  exploration, 
cartography,  the  rediscovering  of  India  and 
the  Far  East,  together  with  a  Jesuit  revival 
of  world-Christianization  which,  however 
pure  in  motive,  saw  fit  to  carry  with  it  the 
Inquisition  and  the  sword,  and  was  repudi- 
ated with  violence.  The  Protestant  Refor- 
mation brought  to  northern  Europe  no  im- 
pulse to  take  up  the  long  deferred  world-plan 
of  Christ.  Its  immediate  effects  were  fierce 
conflicts  of  the  schools  and  sects  at  home  ; 
an  invasion  by  armed  commercialism  of  the 
non-Christian  world  abroad.     At  length  the 


CHRISTIANIZATION   OF  THE  WORLD      33 

rise  of  Pietism  in  Germany  and  the  spirit- 
ual quickening  that  attended  the  Wesleyan 
movement  and  its  cognates  in  England  and 
America  brought  again,  from  the  dead  waste 
of  dogmatism  and  ceremonialism,  scattering 
efforts  to  obey  Christ's  will,  and  to  enter  into 
Christ's  world-vision.  Frowned  on  by  the 
Church,  disallowed  by  the  State,  suspected 
at  home,  injured  and  affronted  by  their  Chris- 
tian countrymen  abroad,  an  illumined  and 
impassioned  group  within  the  hardened  and 
despiritualized  Church  began  the  modern 
work  of  world-Christianization.  Glorious 
souls  engaged  in  it.  They  had  seen  a 
vision ;  the  vision  of  the  world-relationships 
of  Jesus  Christ.  Stung  by  the  splendour  of 
that  vision  they  recoiled  from  the  provin- 
cialism of  a  self-centred  Church.  They  de- 
manded and  they  obtained  the  coveted  ordi- 
nation :  "  Depart,  for  I  will  send  thee  far 
hence  to  the  Gentiles."  ^  Thus  was  sown  the 
seed  of  modern  missions  from  the  churches 
of  the  West  to  the  lands  and  races  of  the 
East.     It  was  sown  in  weakness,  it  has  been 

1  Acts  22  :  21. 


34  THE   CHURCH  AND   THE 

raised  in  power.     It  was  sown  in  dishonour, 
it  has  been  raised  in  glory. 

When  we  consider  the  drawbacks  and  dis- 
advantages continually  encountered,  the  re- 
sults of  Western  missionary  undertakings  in 
the  East  seal  them  with  the  marks  of  the  Lord 
Jesus.  If  we  believe  in  Him,  we  must  believe 
in  these  works  as  wrought  through  His  Spirit 
and  fostered  by  His  care.  The  workers  have 
shared  the  ordinary  limitations  and  exhibited 
the  ordinary  frailties  of  human  nature.  They 
have  wrought  no  miracles  after  the  manner 
of  apostles.  Often  they  have  advanced  to 
their  work  under  relative  ignorance  of  condi- 
tions awaiting  them.  As  a  result  of  this 
ignorance,  doubtless  they  have  laboured  under 
misapprehension,  adding  thereby  to  difficul- 
ties intrinsically  great.  Yet,  to  one  who  goes 
through  the  East  with  a  mind  discharged  of 
prejudice  and  with  the  eyes  of  the  under- 
standing open  to  the  world-vision  of  Christ,  it 
is  evident  that  a  work  already  is  done  which, 
measured  against  the  short  time  of  its  accom- 
plishment, and  the  stumbling-blocks  in  its 
way,  suggests  the  immediate  cooperation  and 


CHRISTIANIZATION   OF  THE  WORLD      35 

blessing  of  God.  Too  much  cannot  be  said 
of  this  wonderful  work — which  is  done  and 
which  stands ;  foundations  laid  carefully 
and  securely  by  those  who  knew  well  what 
they  were  doing  and  why  they  did  it ;  influ- 
ences set  in  motion  and  destined  to  go  on, 
affecting  more  and  more  deeply  the  ideals 
and  the  customs  of  Oriental  society  ;  workers, 
called,  cultured,  chastened ;  many  of  them 
statesmen  in  the  Kingdom  of  God.  The 
translation  of  Holy  Scripture  into  the  vernac- 
ulars of  the  East ;  the  introduction  of  schools, 
colleges  and  hospitals  permeated  with  the 
Spirit  of  Christ ;  the  daily  object  lesson  of 
life  in  Christian  homes ;  the  living  examples 
of  Christian  womanhood ;  the  fidelity  and 
tenderness  of  pastoral  ministrations — these 
and  other  features  of  work  already  accom- 
plished crown  with  glorious  result  the  modern 
effort  of  the  West  to  evangelize  the  East. 

As  we  meditate  upon  this  effort  its  reason- 
ableness appears  in  certain  distinct  relations. 
It  has  contributed  to  the  East  a  body  of 
truth,  an  ideal  of  life,  a  type  of  experience. 
It  has  contributed  a  body  of  truth  :  the  East 


36  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE 

is  flooded  with  copies  of  the  Holy  Scriptures ; 
all  nations  and  peoples  and  kindreds  may 
read  the  Word  of  Inspiration  in  the  tongues 
wherein  they  were  born.  It  has  disclosed  an 
ideal  of  life, — the  Christian — as  a  form  of  per- 
sonality, essentially  different  from  the  Bud- 
dhist, the  Mohammedan,  the  Hindu,  the  Con- 
fucianist.  It  has  communicated  a  type  of 
experience — the  inward  experience  of  the 
Christian  life,  with  its  hope,  its  conception  of 
righteousness,  its  moral  interpretation  of  sin, 
its  joy  in  the  Saviour,  its  peace  with  God,  its 
loving  self-sacrifice.  With  this  experience  it 
has  inoculated  the  thinking  of  the  East. 
These  are  net  results  of  the  West  in  the  East 
as  an  evangelizing  power. 

Yet  it  is  impossible  to  be  satisfied  with 
them  or  to  feel  that  the  mere  maintenance  of 
these  influences  by  Europeans  in  the  East  is 
synonymous  with  the  Christianization  of  the 
world.  And  for  this  reason.  The  missionary 
work  of  the  Western  Church  in  the  Orient, 
must  be,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  at  first  a 
leproduction  of  herself  in  the  lands  whither 
she  goes  on  her  Christian  errand.     Churches 


CHRISTIANIZATION   OF  THE  WORLD     37 

carry  their  messages  abroad  in  the  terms  and 
under  the  forms  which  they  themselves  un- 
derstand, believe  and  practise.  This  is  natu- 
ral, and,  for  economic  and  practical  reasons,  it 
may  be  necessary^  The  primary  work  of 
missions  in  the  East  could  not,  doubtless, 
have  been  done  otherwise  than  as  it  has  been 
done.  A  church  must  work  through  its  ex- 
isting agencies,  and  if  those  agencies  be  sec- 
tarian, the  sectarian  differentiations  must 
reflect  themselves  in  the  mission  establish- 
ments. The  inevitable  immediate  result  is 
the  appearance  in  the  Orient  of  sectarian 
lines  that  have  no  necessary  relation  to  the 
East ;  that  commemorate  only  the  local  his- 
tory of  the  West ;  that  are  separable  in 
thought  and  in  fact  from  the  essence  of  Chris- 
tianity ;  that  had  no  existence  in  the  day 
when  Christ,  filled  with  the  cosmic  vision, 
sent  forth  apostles  to  gather  disciples  for 
Himself  and  to  baptize  them  into  His  Name. 
It  is  evident  that  the  presentation  in  the 
East  of  certain  specialized  and  sectarian 
forms  of  Christianity  held  by  sections  of  the 
West,  and  the  Christianization  of  the  world, 


38  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE 

as  Christ  construed  it,  are  distinct  proposi- 
tions of  unequal  authority  and  scope.  Yet 
they  are  not  in  conflict  with  each  other.  The 
first — sectarian  missions — stands  towards  the 
second, — world-Christianization — as  John  the 
Baptist  stood  towards  Christ.  John  entered 
upon  his  ministry  to  prepare  in  the  desert  of 
Israel  a  highway  for  Christ.  In  discharging 
this  duty  he  made  no  attempt  to  conceal  his 
personal  convictions  regarding  life.  By 
choice  and  training  John  was  an  ascetic ;  and, 
while  fulfilling  his  mission,  he  practised  his 
asceticism  openly ;  a  leathern  girdle  about 
his  loins,  and  his  meat  locusts  and  wild 
honey.  But  he  did  not  seek  to  commit 
Christ  to  his  asceticism  and  Christ  was  not, 
in  fact,  committed  to  it.  "  The  Son  of  Man 
came  eating  and  drinking."  ^  John's  function 
was  to  prepare  the  public  mind  for  Christ,  to 
direct  the  public  mind  to  Christ  and  then  to 
let  Christ  mould  the  public  mind  as  He 
would.  When  John  had  said  "  Behold  the 
Lamb  of  God  "  ^  so  distinctly  that  men  under- 
stood and  saw  and  followed  Christ,  John's 

>  Matt.  II  :  19.  2  John  i :  29. 


CHRISTIANIZATION   OF  THE  WORLD      39 

work  had  fulfilled  itself.     Henceforth  he  said  : 
"He  must  increase,  I  must  decrease." ^ 

Such  is  the  relation  of  denominational 
missions  to  the  Christianization  of  the  world. 
They  are  the  forerunners  of  Christ  and  only 
that.  They  do  not  renounce  their  personal 
convictions  in  theology  and  churchmanship  ; 
they  speak  in  the  terms,  and  work  through 
the  forms,  which  tradition  or  choice  have 
made  severally  their  own.  But  their  function 
in  the  East  rests  not  in  the  terms  of  a  theol- 
ogy which  may  be  meaningless  for  Eastern 
minds,  nor  in  forms  of  worship  which  may  or 
may  not  satisfy  the  Oriental  sense  of  devo- 
tion— their  function  is  to  clear  through  the 
jungle  a  highway  for  the  Prince  of  Peace ;  to 
point  bewildered  seekers  to  the  Lamb  of 
God ;  to  win  disciples  to  the  Heavenly 
Master ;  to  bind  them  to  Him  in  the  sacra- 
mental bond  ;  to  teach  them  to  understand 
and  love  His  words — and  then  to  let  Christ 
evolve  His  own  disciples  throughout  the 
East  and  build  up  His  own  Church  in  the 
Orient,  in  doctrine  and  worship,  as  He  will. 

»  John  3 :  30. 


40  THE   CHURCH  AND   THE 

For  a  moment  this  may  seem  to  be  a  revo- 
lutionary position,  the  effect  of  which,  should 
it  prevail,  would  mean  confusion  in  the  East 
and  a  relapse  into  superstition.  But  reflec- 
tion will  show  that  what  is  advocated  is  that 
which  for  every  Anglo-Saxon  is  most  pre- 
cious :  liberty  of  mind  and  conscience  in  doc- 
trine and  worship.  There  was  a  time  (never 
let  it  be  forgotten)  when  England  and  Scot- 
land, the  lands  of  our  forefathers,  were  igno- 
rant of  Christ ;  when  our  ancestors  were  mem- 
bers of  the  non-Christianized  world.  The 
charming  chronicles  of  Montalembert  tell  us 
of  those  Monks  of  the  West  who  came  with 
the  message  to  us — uttering  it  in  the  terms 
of  their  own  theology  and  representing  it 
under  the  forms  of  their  own  Roman  worship 
— and  earlier  than  they  may  have  been  those 
Culdee  evangelists  who  brought  Greek  litur- 
gies and  Greek  theologies  through  France  to 
Ireland,  and  through  Ireland  into  the  fast- 
nesses of  the  Scottish  highlands.  For  us, 
through  our  forefathers,  these  were  the  men 
who  said  ''  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God."  These 
were  the  men  who  planted  in  our  Aryan  life 


CHRISTIANIZATION   OF   THE  WORLD      41 

a  faith  that  came  to  the  world  through 
Semitic  channels  and  in  the  garb  of  Oriental 
personality.  We  felt  not  bound  to  accept 
their  theology,  or  to  practice  their  liturgy. 
Receiving  the  essence  through  them — and 
through  them  attaining  Christian  self- con- 
sciousness, we  reserved  our  freedom  touching 
all  beside.  Christ,  by  His  Spirit,  has  formed 
us — giving  us  the  knowledge  and  experience 
of  Himself.  In  Him  is  our  only  unity,  for  in 
theology  and  churchmanship  we  have  fol- 
lowed many  paths,  in  the  exercise  of  personal 
liberty. 

The  time  has  come — or,  if  it  be  not  here  is 
not  far  distant,  when  the  East,  in  its  most 
advanced  nations  and  communities  is  begin- 
ning to  attain  Christian  self-consciousness, 
through  the  lives  of  many  leading  members 
of  these  races  who  now  represent  the  second 
and  third  generations  of  Christians.  I  have 
met  in  the  East  native  Christians  as  ma- 
ture and  balanced  in  the  spiritual  life  as 
any  whom  I  have  known  in  the  West,  and  I 
have  met  many  persons  of  high  intelligence, 
outside  of  Christianity,  familiar  with  Christian 


42  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE 

thought.  This  fact  introduces  a  new  era  in 
the  Christianization  of  the  world — and  opens 
new  questions  for  consideration  by  the 
churches  of  the  West.  Hitherto  the  single 
end  has  been  primary  evangelization — the 
introduction  to  Eastern  nations  of  the  ele- 
mentary Christian  ideas.  In  the  less  ad- 
vanced nations  and  communities  this  must 
for  a  long  time  continue  to  be  the  urgent 
work.  And  for  all  such  work  sectarian  mis- 
sions are  available,  and  Western  theologies 
and  polities  offer  no  hindrance  to  effective 
service. 

But  we  must  face  the  fact  that  the  East, 
from  whom  Christ  so  long  has  been  veiled, 
now  begins  to  see  Him,  and,  seeing  Him, 
begins  to  claim  her  right  to  be  developed  in 
Christian  self-consciousness  and  Christian 
self-expression,  without  theological  or  eccle- 
siastical dictation  from  the  West.  This  fact 
appears  in  relative  degrees  of  distinctness  in 
the  various  communities  of  the  East ;  pre- 
eminendy  in  Japan,  the  most  advanced  and 
most  open-minded  of  them  all.  The  most 
open-minded  and  statesmanlike  of  our  mis- 


CHRISTIANIZATION   OF  THE  WORLD     43 

sionaries  perceive  the  fact,  welcome  it,  and 
anticipate  its  results.  These  are  the  words 
of  Dr.  Pettie  of  Okayama :  "  The  present  is 
a  period  of  change  and  recasting.  Just  what 
form  our  mission  work  will  assume  in  days 
to  come  it  were  rash  to  prophesy,  but  that 
great  changes  are  about  taking  place  and 
that  we  have  reached  an  end  of  what  may  be 
termed  the  first  full  period  of  foreign  mission- 
ary service  for  Japan  is,  in  varying  degrees,  the 
conviction  of  a  large  number  of  our  mission 
circle.  Foreign  help  will  be  needed  and  wel- 
comed for  many  years  to  come.  The  per- 
sonal service  of  strong  character,  resolute 
conviction,  and  loving  ministration  will  still 
find  a  place  here  as  elsewhere,  but  the  old- 
time  idea  of  foreigji  missionary  service,  with 
extra-territorial  jurisdiction,  accountability  to 
foreign  boards  and  the  insistance  on  foreign 
methods  of  thought  and  activity  will  prove 
less  and  less  acceptable  and  profitable." 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  this  view  is 
not  at  present  entertained  by  all  missionaries 
abroad  nor  by  all  missionary  organizations  at 
home.     There  are  those,  at  home  and  abroad, 


44  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE 

whose  only  conception  of  the  Christianization 
of  the  world  implies  the  organizing  of  the 
religious  life  of  the  East  upon  western  plat- 
forms of  theology  and  within  western  lines  of 
polity ;  whose  only  outlook  for  the  future  is 
to  keep  the  East  as  a  child  under  religious 
and  ecclesiastical  tutors  and  governors  sent 
out  from  England  and  America,  which  are 
assumed  to  be  the  territorial  seat  of  authority 
in  religion.  For  a  short  time  to  come,  in  the 
most  mature  religious  communities  of  the 
East,  and  for  a  longer  period  in  regions  less 
mature,  this  policy  of  western  control  may 
continue  and  may  be  tolerated.  But  its  in- 
definite continuance  is  not  a  matter  of  choice 
with  the  missionary  organizations  of  the 
West.  The  inherent  vitality  of  the  Chris- 
tianized element  in  Oriental  life  will  assert 
itself  and  will  determine  for  itself  its  theology, 
its  worship  and  its  mode  of  government; 
even  as,  in  time  past  in  the  West,  when  the 
exotic  plant  of  Christianity,  introduced  from 
the  East,  had  rooted  itself  in  the  life  and 
acclimated  itself  to  the  mental  atmosphere  of 
Teutonic  and  Anglo-Saxon  races,  it  brought 


CHRISTIANIZATION   OF  THE  WORLD     45 

forth  its  appropriate  fruitage  of  dogmatic 
and  liturgical  institutions.  The  time  draws 
near  when  the  West  no  longer  may  dictate 
terms  of  conformity  to  the  religious  thinking 
of  Japan  and  India.  The  gradual  super- 
session of  missions  by  indigenous  Christianity 
in  the  chief  centres  of  thought  will  occur. 
The  future  of  missions  in  countries  that  have 
attained  religious  self-consciousness  must 
more  and  more  take  on  the  aspects  of  a 
cooperating,  rather  than  controlling,  force. 
And  if,  in  centres  of  power,  this  modification 
of  policy  is  resisted,  the  East  increasingly 
will  withdraw  herself  from  mission  organi- 
zations and  pursue  independently  her  course 
of  religious  self-development.  Instead  of 
resenting  this  we  should  rejoice  in  it,  and  do 
all  in  our  power  to  foster  it  as  the  verification 
of  Oriental  religious  experience,  and  the  seal 
of  God  upon  the  labours  of  our  missionaries. 
Does  not  a  wise  father  rejoice,  if  he  sees  his 
son,  to  whom  he  imparted  the  primary 
counsels  of  life,  attaining  self-knowledge  and 
self-dependence  and  the  courage  of  the 
initiative  ?    Would  he  wish  to  keep  that  boy 


46  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE 

always  a  mere  reflector  of  his  own  thought  ? 
Does  he  not  rejoice  to  see  the  boy  thinking 
for  himself  and  Hving  his  way  into  his  own 
Hfe  ?  And  shall  we  not  rejoice  if,  one  by  one, 
communities  of  the  East  shall  attain  Christian 
self-consciousness  and  meet  their  own  ques- 
tions in  their  own  way?  Does  it  not  prove 
that  the  seed  planted  was  a  living  seed  and 
not  the  mere  husk  of  foreign  dogma  and 
foreign  sectarianism  ?  I  believe  that  the 
larger  East,  with  its  enormous  expanse  and 
population,  never  shall  be  Christianized 
through  the  immediate  agency  of  western 
denominational  missions.  Out  of  the  in- 
fluences thus  set  in  motion,  out  of  the  ground 
thus  prepared,  must  spring  leaders  in  the 
native  community,  bound  to  it  by  the  tie  of 
ancestral  connection  and  able  to  speak  to  it 
as  no  western  voice,  nor  even  the  wisest  and 
the  tenderest,  ever  has  spoken,  or  ever  can 
speak. 

These  thoughts  are  but  part  of  a  system  of 
thinking  that  affects  every  question  connected 
with  our  religion  at  home  as  well  as  abroad. 
Whatever  legitimately  works  for  the  mini- 


CHRISTIANIZATION   OF  THE  WORLD     47 

mizing  of  sectarianism,  works  for  a  clearer 
conception  of  the  common  essence  of  Chris- 
tian truth,  and  the  common  centre  of  Chris- 
tian life — Jesus  Christ  and  Him  crucified. 
Solicitude  to  make  much  of  sectarian  dis- 
tinctions often  springs  from  a  sincere  dread 
that  unless  these  distinctions  be  emphasized 
the  truth  may  suffer  by  impairment.  But  if 
the  signs  of  the  present  time  at  home  and 
abroad  may  be  trusted,  less  and  less  shall 
there  be  of  this  solicitude.  We  shall  come  to 
see  that  wherever  the  common  essence  con- 
sciously is  shared,  the  individualistic  inter- 
pretations of  that  essence  subordinate  them- 
selves into  mere  psychological  conveniences, 
good  for  those  who  use  them  respectively, 
but  without  universal  validity  or  universal 
authority.  Hence  the  value  and  meaning  of 
institutions  where  the  essence  is  viewed  apart 
from  any  and  all  sectarian  interpretations, 
where  equal  hospitality  is  given  to  all  sec- 
tarian interpretations  and  to  all  modes  of 
ecclesiastical  procedure.  In  proportion  as 
every  such  institution  has  wisdom  and  in- 
fluence   it    becomes    a   point   of   departure, 


48  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE 

whence,  as  from  an  inn  at  the  mountain's 
base,  a  path  strikes  upward  through  the 
jungles  of  the  foothills,  to  the  broad,  clear 
reaches  of  the  upper  levels,  where  one  sees, 
as  in  the  unity  of  a  landscape,  the  world-rela- 
tions of  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  Christ. 

It  is  from  this  higher  point  of  view  that  I 
have  attempted  to  speak  of  that  which  must 
be  an  object  of  holy  hope  and  desire  to  every 
true  Christian — the  Christianization  of  the 
world.  1  have  sought  to  show  that  that 
phrase  implies  something  other  and  more  sim- 
ple than  the  competition  of  Western  sects  to 
reproduce  themselves  in  the  East.  It  implies 
something  that  carries  the  mind  far  beyond  that 
desirable  advance  in  missionary  polity  known 
as  interdenominational  comity,  which  means 
to  substitute  for  competition  the  partitioning 
of  the  East  into  denominational  spheres  of 
influence,  after  the  example  of  the  powers  of 
Europe  in  China  and  in  Africa.  This  is  not  the 
Christianization  of  the  world.  This  is  the  oc- 
cupation of  the  East  by  the  religious  organi- 
zations of  the  West  as  a  preliminary  and 
temporary    measure.      The    words    of     our 


CHRISTIANIZATION   OF   THE  WORLD      49 

theme  challenge  us  to  measure  up  to  the 
cosmopolitanism  of  Christ,  for  whom  there 
were  no  sects,  no  ecclesiastical  polities,  no 
dogmatic  systems — only  a  world  to  be 
brought  to  Him,  and  He,  the  Living  Truth, 
to  be  brought  to  that  world :  a  world  groan- 
ing and  travailing,  wandering  and  groping, 
searching,  and,  in  a  million  idol  temples, 
praying  for  the  knowledge  of  God.  ''  I  am 
the  Light  of  the  world.  He  that  hath  seen 
Me  hath  seen  the  Father.  He  that  foUoweth 
Me  shall  not  walk  in  darkness  but  shall  have 
the  light  of  life.  ...  Ye,  My  Church, 
shall  be  My  witnesses  unto  the  uttermost  part 
of  the  earth."  ^ 

If  we  are  prepared  to  take  this  position, 
then  the  Christianization  of  the  Orient,  which 
would  complete  the  Christianization  of  the 
world,  becomes  a  thought  that  kindles  with 
brilliant  and  prophetic  suggestions.  It  sug- 
gests the  consummation  of  the  hopes  and 
yearnings  of  the  non-Christian  faiths  through 
the  absolute  revelation  of  God  in  Christ  jesus. 
It  suggests  the  development  of  an  Oriental 

1  Cf.  John  8:12;  John  14  :  9  J  Acts  i ;  8. 


50  THE  CHURCH   AND   THE 

type  of  Christianity  wherein  the  common 
essence  shall  locaHze  itself  in  terms  of 
thought  and  modes  of  practice  adapted  to  the 
Eastern  conception  of  life.  It  suggests  a 
more  complete  and  full  orbed  interpretation 
of  Christianity  for  the  world,  when  the  East 
shall  supplement  and  fulfill  the  West  by  con- 
tributing truth  seen  from  her  point  of  view ; 
mediated  through  her  experience. 

When  one  stands  in  the  heart  of  the  vener- 
able East ;  feels  the  atmosphere  charged  with 
religious  impulse  ;  reads  on  the  faces  of  the 
people  marks  of  the  unsatisfied  soul ;  con- 
siders the  monumental  expressions  of  the  re- 
ligious idea  in  grand  and  enduring  architec- 
tural forms,  then  the  suggestion  that  all  this 
means  nothing — that  it  bears  no  witness  to 
the  Divine  in  man  seeking  and  finding  a 
partial  and  inadequate  self-fulfillment — that  it 
is  but  to  be  stamped  out  and  exterminated 
before  Christianity  can  rise  upon  its  ruins — 
becomes  an  unthinkable  suggestion.  I  look 
with  reverence  upon  the  hopes  and  yearnings 
of  non-Christian  faiths,  believing  them  to 
contain  flickering  and  broken  lights  of  God, 


CHRISTIANIZATION   OF  THE  WORLD     51 

which  shall  be  purged  and  purified  and  con- 
summated through  the  absolute  self-revela- 
tion of  the  Father  in  Christ  Incarnate.  With 
him  whose  provincialism  was  chastened  by 
the  vision  let  down  from  heaven  I  believe 
that  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons/  that  in 
every  nation  he  that  feareth  Him  and  work- 
eth  righteousness  is  acceptable  to  Him  ;  and 
that  in  the  company  of  His  saints  are  many 
who  have  been  cleansed  in  the  Blood  of 
Christ's  Cross  and  prepared  for  the  vision  of 
Christ's  face  by  grace  that  led  them  in  a  way 
that  they  knew  not,  through  the  shadows  of 
an  ethnic  faith.  The  Christianization  of  the 
world  suggests,  then,  the  conservation  of  all 
that  is  true  in  the  non-Christian  faiths  and 
its  purgation,  reconstruction  and  consumma- 
tion in  the  fullness  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus. 

The  Christianization  of  the  world  suggests 
also  the  development  of  an  Oriental  type  of 
Christianity,  wherein  the  common  essence 
shall  localize  itself  in  terms  of  thought  and 
modes  of  practice  adapted  to  the  Eastern  con- 
ception of  life.     The  evolutionary  changes  of 

>  Cf.  Acts  10  :  34,  35. 


52  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE 

theological  opinion  in  the  West,  taking  place 
at  intervals  through  the  last  four  hundred 
years,  and  the  lack  of  ecclesiastical  agree- 
ment, must  admonish  us  against  supposing 
that  we  can,  or  that  we  should,  impose  upon 
the  East  our  variable  theological  tests  or  our 
complicated  ecclesiastical  requirements.  The 
preliminary  introduction  of  the  Christian 
essence  we  could  indeed  accomplish  under 
our  sectarian  forms ;  but  the  living  seed, 
once  rooted  and  germinated,  we  must  com- 
mit to  the  culture  of  the  Spirit.  The  East 
must  evolve  her  own  theological  standards 
as  the  West  has  done,  assimilating  those  of 
the  West  if  she  will,  but  not  having  them 
laid  upon  her  by  authority.  And  nothing  is 
more  certain  than  that  the  common  essence 
of  Christianity  lends  itself  to  expression  in 
the  terms  of  the  East.  Our  Lord  Himself 
was  an  Oriental,  and  no  imagination  can 
picture  Him,  without  violence  to  the  sense  of 
truth,  except  in  the  garb  and  manner  of  the 
East.  Christianity  would  have  overspread 
the  East  ere  now  had  it  not  been  forced  upon 
the    East   in   unwelcome   identification  with 


CHRISTIANIZATION   OF   THE  WORLD      53 

the  manners  and  customs  and  temperaments 
and  dogmas  and  military  governments  of  an 
alien  and  inexplicable  West. 

Finally,  the  Christianization  of  the  world 
suggests  a  more  complete  and  full-orbed  in- 
terpretation of  Christianity  for  the  world, 
when  the  East  shall  supplement  and  fulhll 
the  West  by  contributing  truth  seen  from 
her  point  of  view  ;  mediated  through  her  ex- 
perience. Much  could  I  say  of  the  possibili- 
ties opened  by  this  thought,  but  all  that  I 
would  say  at  this  point  may  be  indicated  in 
words  that  I  uttered  two  years  ago  in  the  im- 
perial city  of  Tokyo,  and  which  I  had  spoken 
many  times  previously  in  the  presence  of 
thousands  of  Hindu,  Mohammedan  and  Bud- 
dhist university-students  in  every  quarter  of 
India,  from  Madras  to  the  Panjab.  I  rejoice 
to  repeat  the  words  once  more  in  this  Chris- 
tian audience  of  the  West. 

"When  I  permit  myself  to  contemplate  the 
blessing  that  would  come  to  the  Western 
World  if  the  great,  religious  East  were  to 
become  the  teacher  and  the  interpreter  of 
the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  my  heart  burns 


54  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE 

within  me.  Again  and  again,  in  the  course 
of  these  Lectures,  I  have  reiterated  my  con- 
viction that  the  Christianity  of  the  West  has 
been  in  many  ways  an  inadequate  and  im- 
perfect illustration  of  the  uncorrupted  essence 
of  the  faith  of  Christ.  It  is  not  to  us  that 
the  East  should  look  for  an  example  of  what 
the  power  of  Christ  can  effect  in  the  redeem- 
ing and  sanctifying  of  nations.  All  that  the 
West  has  of  moral  strength  and  social  purity 
and  spiritual  power  it  owes  to  Jesus  Christ. 
But  evil  is  mingled  with  its  good  and  dark- 
ness with  its  light.  Not  to  us,  but  to  Him, 
shall  the  far-seeing  eyes  of  the  East  look, 
when  the  educated  circles  of  the  Orient  are 
prepared  seriously  to  consider  the  relation  of 
Christianity  to  the  future  of  the  world.  Not 
from  us,  but  from  Him,  and  from  His  Holy 
Scriptures  of  truth,  shall  the  deep  spiritual 
insight  of  the  East  receive  the  revelation  that 
shall  be  incorporated  with  her  own  traditions 
and  assimilated  into  her  own  institutions. 

"  In  the  day  when  the  vigour  of  the  West 
and  the  insight  of  the  East  shall  be  joined 
by  a  true  union  of  hearts  for  the  interpreta- 


CHRISTIANIZATION   OF  THE  WORLD      55 

tion  and  practice  of  the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ, 
then,  and  not  till  then,  shall  the  Unspeakable 
Gift  of  God,  be  understood,  appreciated  and 
expressed  on  earth."  ^ 

'  Christian    Belie/   Interpreted  by    Christian    Experience ; 
Barrow's  Lectures,  pp.  246,  247,  Chicago  and  London,  1905. 


LECTURE  II 

THE  BEARING  OF  SECTARIAN 
MOVEMENTS  UPON  THE  CHRIS- 
TIANIZATION    OF    THE    WORLD 


LECTURE  II 

THE  BEARING  OF  SECTARIAN 
MOVEMENTS  UPON  THE  CHRIS- 
TIANIZATION    OF   THE   WORLD 

TO  the  observer  of  world-movements 
in  the  light  of  contemporary  relig- 
ion, aspects  of  extraordinary  interest 
appear  in  the  present  ecclesiastical  situation. 
Certain  of  these  aspects  are  the  following: 
alleged  decline  in  the  number  of  suitable 
candidates  for  the  ministry  ;  growing  repug- 
nance, on  the  part  of  ministers  and  laymen, 
to  old  forms  of  denominational  subscription  ; 
criticism  of  the  Church  for  inefficiency  and 
lack  of  vision  ;  movements  of  life  and  love 
developing  outside  of  the  Church.  The  im- 
portance of  these  phenomena  cannot  be  de- 
nied. They  challenge  attention  and  invite 
explanation.  It  is  possible  to  consider  them 
judicially  .  without  hostility  and  also  without 
favour.  Apparently  the  Protestant  Church 
in  this  country,  at  the  present  time,  is  unable 
59 


6o       BEARING  OF  SECTARIAN  MOVEMENTS 

to  attract  to  her  ministry  an  adequate  supply 
of  men  of  the  highest  order.  Some  are  com- 
ing ;  more,  in  certain  quarters,  are  being  at- 
tracted than  came  ten  years  ago.  But,  con- 
sidering the  number  of  men  of  unusual 
promise  now  being  educated  in  American 
universities  and  colleges,  the  proportion  of 
those  undertaking  the  Christian  ministry  is 
sub-normal.  Apparently,  also,  in  the  circle 
of  the  educated  laity  and  of  the  ministry,  is 
spreading  a  feeling  of  repugnance  towards 
historic  forms  of  denominational  subscription ; 
this  feeling  frequently  coincides  with  piety 
and  usefulness  and  with  desire  to  preserve 
the  integrity  of  the  Apostolic  deposit.  Criti- 
cism of  the  Church  increases ;  from  within 
more  than  from  without.  Her  foes  are  of  her 
own  household.  They  accuse  the  Church  of 
blindness  in  the  presence  of  opportunity ;  of 
slowness  of  heart  to  discern  the  signs  of  the 
times  ;  of  sins  of  the  letter  against  the  spirit ; 
of  sterile  conformity  to  obsolete  conditions. 
Meantime,  movements  of  life  and  love  abound, 
non-ecclesiastical ;  extra-ecclesiastical ;  move- 
ments that  ask  no  permission  to  be,  that  offer 


UPON  CHRISTIANIZATION  OF  WORLD       6l 

homage  to  no  authority  but  Christ,  that  in- 
terest many  who  once  worked  for  and  within 
the  Church.  It  is  one  thing  to  observe  these 
phenomena.  It  is  another  to  interpret  them 
with  precision.  Some,  pronouncing  upon 
these  phenomena,  without  having  regard  to 
their  evolutionary  bearing,  affirm  that  the  de- 
cHne  in  the  number  of  suitable  candidates  for 
the  ministry  means  the  passing  of  the  minis- 
try from  its  ancient  seat  of  authority  in  moral 
and  religious  development ;  that  the  lay  and 
ministerial  repugnance  to  denominational 
subscription  means  the  passing  of  the  credal 
function  in  favour  of  a  non-theological  relig- 
ion of  the  Spirit ;  that  the  dissatisfaction 
within  the  Church  means  the  passing  of  the 
ecclesiastical  idea  as  an  outworn  and  out- 
grown conception,  which,  henceforth,  must 
give  place  to  spontaneous  forces  of  righteous- 
ness, disburdened  of  clerical  tradition. 

To  those  who  look  below  the  surface,  and 
consider  the  evolutionary  elements  active 
from  the  beginning  in  the  Christian  religion, 
these  disturbing  aspects  of  the  present  time 
do  not  portend  the  decay  of  the  ministry,  the 


62       BEARING  OF  SECTARIAN  MOVEMENTS 

dissolution  of  the  rule  of  faith,  the  superan- 
nuation of  the  Church.  They  point  rather  to 
an  imperative  and  as  yet  dimly  appre- 
hended need  of  large  readjustments  in  relig- 
ious and  ecclesiastical  thinking ;  readjust- 
ments which,  if  they  be  made  generally  and 
generously,  will  bring  an  apostolic  zest  into 
modern  Christianity,  and  reclothe  the  Church 
with  the  strength  and  love  of  the  first  days. 
It  is  the  function  of  the  present  Lectures  to 
deal  somewhat  with  these  readjustments ; 
discerning  their  nature,  estimating  their 
power.  This  estimate  is  undertaken  in  a 
spirit  absolved  from  all  radical  bias  and 
revolutionary  tendency ;  a  spirit  of  humility, 
of  reverence  for  the  Church  as  an  historic 
entity  born  in  the  mind  of  Christ,  sealed  with 
the  Blood  of  His  Sacrifice,  endued  with  gifts 
of  ministry,  fortified  by  the  communion  of  the 
Holy  Ghost. 

For  those  who  revere  and  love  the  Church 
it  is  profitable  to  remember  that  its  history  is 
the  history  of  a  series  of  reinterpretations  of 
an  idea  which  in  its  absolute  perfection  ex- 
isted only  in   the   thought  and  purpose  of 


UPON  CHRISTIANIZATION  OF  WORLD      63 

Christ.  Christ's  conception  of  the  Church 
was  the  perfect  conception.  Every  success- 
ive reinterpretation  of  His  idea  has  been, 
under  the  necessity  of  the  case,  more  or  less 
Umited  and  imperfect  by  reason  of  man's  in- 
firmity and  lack  of  vision.  And  because  the 
reinterpretations  of  the  idea  have  been  more 
or  less  imperfect  they  have  been  more  or  less 
transitory,  more  or  less  local,  more  or  less 
tending  to  spend  their  force  and  give  place 
to  other  reinterpretations  larger,  more  ade- 
quate, more  commensurate  with  the  idea  in 
the  mind  of  the  Founder. 

One  does  not  forget  that  modern  criticism 
has  raised  the  question  whether  there  was  in 
the  mind  of  our  Lord  the  intention  to  found 
a  church.  It  has  been  contended  that  Christ 
wrought  for  individuals,  that  He  related 
Himself  to  men  as  separate  persons ;  that 
He  placed  Himself  at  the  head  of  no  organi- 
zation ;  that  the  Church  emerged  from  the 
age  subsequent  to  Christ,  and  from  other 
conditions,  the  most  prominent  of  which  was 
His  absence.  Much  may  be  said  in  support 
of  this  contention.     The  ministry  of  our  Lord 


64       BEARING  OF  SECTARIAN  MOVEMENTS 

was  signally  a  ministry  to  persons.  He  saw 
and  proclaimed  the  value  of  personal  life. 
*'  What  shall  a  man  be  profited  if  he  shall  gain 
the  whole  world  and  forfeit  his  life  ?  Or  what 
shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his  life?"' 
The  blind,  the  demoniac,  the  poor,  the  per- 
plexed,  the  inquiring,  the  child,  even  the 
dead  meant  much  to  Him,  and  upon  each  He 
gave  forth  the  fullness  of  His  power,  wisdom 
and  love.  His  Sacrifice  upon  the  Cross, 
while  by  His  own  statement  a  giving  of  His 
life  for  the  life  of  the  world,  was  instantly  ap- 
prehended by  Christian  experience  as  per- 
sonal in  its  significance.  That  greatest  of 
churchmen,  St.  Paul,  with  his  passion  for  or- 
ganization, sees  the  personal  bearing  of  the 
Lord's  Death  and  says :  "  The  Son  of  God 
who  loved  me  and  gave  Himself  up  for  me.''  -^ 
Nor  can  anything  be  more  evident  than  that 
the  mind  and  word  of  the  Lord  Jesus  sug- 
gest nothing  of  the  subsequent  develop- 
ments of  the  Church  along  certain  prominent 
lines.  One  looks  in  vain  to  Christ  for  the 
foreshadowing  of  Catholic  supremacy  with  its 

»M;Ut.  l6:  26.  Uial.  2:  20 


UPON  CHRISTIANIZATION  OF  WORLD       65 

temporal  power  and  its  sacerdotal  authority. 
Equally  in  vain  does  one  look  to  Christ  for 
the  justification  of  sectarian  rivalries  and  per- 
secutions. In  these  things  He  had  no  inter- 
est ;  they  were  foreign  to  His  spirit ;  they 
entered  not  into  His  world-view.  We  must 
fear  that  numberless  acts  of  the  Church  merit 
only  rebuke  and  condemnation  from  Him  in 
whose  name,  as  the  Founder  of  the  Church, 
those  acts  were  done. 

Yet  He  was  the  Founder  of  the  Church. 
The  idea  of  the  Christian  Church  and  of  its 
function  in  the  world  was  born  in  the  soul 
of  the  Son  of  God.  When  Israel,  the  Mes- 
sianic nation,  failed  to  rise  at  His  bidding.  He 
entered  upon  His  ministry  in  the  power  of 
the  Eternal  Spirit  with  one  magnificent  end 
in  view,  to  accomplish  the  Father's  will  on 
earth  as  it  is  in  heaven:  to  bring  in  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  The  Kingdom  of  God 
was  to  be  the  kingdom  of  heaven  on  earth  ; 
the  reconstruction  of  the  world  according  to 
the  eternal  purpose  of  the  Father ;  the  trans- 
formation of  human  life  in  its  motives,  prac- 
tices, and  relationships  ;  the  overthrow  of  in- 


66       BEARING  OF  SECTARIAN  MOVEMENTS 

iquity ;  the  defeat  of  untruth  ;  the  curing  of 
abuses ;  the  recovery  of  sight  to  the  bhnd,  the 
opening  of  the  prison  doors  of  ignorance, 
fear,  sin,  shame  ;  the  ethical  and  social  eman- 
cipation of  the  entire  family  of  man.  As  the 
Messiah  of  prophecy  He  came,  in  the  fullness 
of  time,  to  Israel  the  chosen  servant-nation 
of  Jehovah.  With  the  word  of  the  kingdom 
on  His  lips,  with  the  fire  of  Messianic  expec- 
tation in  His  heart,  He  summoned  the  Mes- 
sianic nation  to  its  world-service  for  the 
Kingdom  of  God's  sake,  and  His  summons 
fell  unheeded  to  the  ground,  "  He  came  unto 
His  own  and  they  that  were  His  own  received 
Him  not.  But  as  many  as  received  Him,  to 
them  gave  He  the  right  to  become  children  of 
God,  even  to  them  that  believe  on  His  name, 
which  were  born  not  of  blood  (kinship  in  the 
blood  of  Israel  was  not  necessary  for  this  new 
sonship)  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of 
the  will  of  man,  but  of  God."^  There  was 
the  nucleus  of  the  Christian  Church.  It  was 
made  up  of  as  many  as  received  Him,  of  as 
many  as    discerned    in  Him  the  Christ,  the 

Juhii  I  :  II-  13. 


UPON  CHRISTIANIZATION  OF  WORLD       67 

Anointed  One,  the  Messiah,  the  Saviour  of 
the  world.  The  nation  as  a  nation  answered 
not  His  call.  So,  out  from  the  nation  He 
gathered  a  group  of  kindred  spirits,  unified 
by  their  common  discernment  of  His  Mes- 
siahship ;  and  on  the  fact  of  their  common 
discernment  of  His  Messiahship,  as  on  a 
rock,  He  built  His  Church,  the  instrument  by 
which,  as  the  ages  advance  He  is  achieving 
the  purpose  of  His  Advent,  the  redemption  of 
the  world  from  its  long  alienation,  to  the 
righteousness,  the  peace,  the  joy  of  the  King- 
dom of  God.  To  that  Church  He  gave  no 
organization  at  first.  He  gave  what  was 
better  than  organization ;  He  gave  Himself. 
He  admitted  that  group  into  the  confidence 
of  His  soul ;  He  imparted  to  it  His  ideals ; 
He  infused  it  with  His  spirit ;  He  introduced 
it  into  the  fellowship  of  His  sufferings ;  at 
last  in  the  supreme  act  of  obedience  to  the 
will  of  the  Father,  obedience  unto  death, 
even  the  death  of  the  Cross,  He  ''purchased" 
the  Church  (to  use  the  words  of  one  after- 
wards admitted  to  the  Apostolic  nucleus). 
He  identified  it  with  Himself  and  with  the 


68       BEARING  OF  SECTARIAN  MOVEMENTS 

ideals  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  He  made  it 
His  own,  **  with  His  own  precious  Blood."  ^ 

So  long  as  the  daily  companionship  with 
the  adorable  Master  continued,  there  was 
little  corporate  self-consciousness  in  the 
apostolic  nucleus.  Its  members  realized 
themselves  chiefly  not  as  parts  of  a  Church 
having  life  and  entity  in  itself,  but  as  dis- 
ciples and  friends  of  Christ.  The  first  dis- 
tinct intimations  of  an  organic  relationship 
among  themselves,  to  continue  and  per- 
petuate itself  when  the  central  Presence  was 
withdrawn,  came  in  the  memorable  hours 
preceding  the  arrest  and  trial  of  the  Master. 
Not  until  after  the  Resurrection  were  those 
intimations  fully  understood.  The  last  words 
before  the  Ascension  were  definite.  Tenta- 
tively they  had  asked  if  the  Messianic  nation 
was,  even  now,  at  the  eleventh  hour,  to  be 
accepted  as  the  instrument  whereby  the  King- 
dom of  God  shall  be  brought  in  upon  earth : 
**  Wilt  Thou  at  this  time  restore  again  the 
kingdom  to  Israel?"  Gravely  He  turns  the 
question  aside :    *'  It  is  not  for  you  to  know," 

»  Cf.  Acts  20 :  28. 


UPON  CHRISTIANIZATION  OF  WORLD       69 

and  plainly  imposes  on  His  Church  the 
Messianic  mission  forfeited  by  Israel :  "  Ye 
shall  be  witnesses  unto  Me  both  in  Jerusalem 
(the  citadel  of  Judaism)  and  in  all  Judaea  and 
Samaria  and  unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the 
earth."  ^  "I  send  forth  the  promise  of  My 
Father  upon  youy^  Knit  together  by  the 
solemnity  of  their  present  situation,  con- 
firmed in  the  sense  of  corporate  life  and 
function  by  the  unparalleled  spiritual  ex- 
perience of  the  day  of  Pentecost,  the  apos- 
tolic nucleus  attained  self-realization  as  the 
Church  of  the  Chrisios,  the  Anointed  One, 
the  Messiah ;  as  the  chosen  witness  of  the 
Risen  Lord ;  as  the  evangelist  of  the  king- 
dom of  God  unto  all  the  nations. 

Life,  within  that  organized  circle,  began 
in  simplicity.  To  outward  appearance  the 
Church  of  the  Anointed  One  was  but  an  un- 
assuming sect  of  mystics  hidden  beneath  the 
imposing  structure  of  Jewish  ecclesiasticism. 
Seriousness  and  the  vital  fear  of  God  brooded 
on  every  soul ;  love,  born  of  common  ex- 
periences and  hopes,  brought  unwonted  unity. 

» Cf.  Acts  1 :  6,  7,  8.  «  Luke  24:  29. 


70       BEARING  OF  SECTARIAN  MOVEMENTS 

"All  that  believed  were  together  and  had  all 
things  common."^  ''And,  day  by  day,  con- 
tinuing steadfastly  with  one  accord  in  the 
temple  and  breaking  bread  at  home,  they 
did  take  their  food  with  gladness  and  single- 
ness of  heart,  praising  God,  and  having 
favour  with  all  the  people."  ^ 

It  was  not  long  before  the  expansive 
principle  within  the  Church  of  Christ  as- 
serted itself.  The  hidden  sect  emerged. 
The  differentia  of  Christianity  began  to  ap- 
pear. The  new  order  proceeded  to  extricate 
itself  from  the  old.  One  memorandum  of 
splendid  brevity  interprets  the  situation :  "  The 
word  of  God  increased  ;  and  the  number  of  the 
disciples  multiplied  in  Jerusalem  exceedingly; 
and  a  great  company  of  the  priests  were  obe- 
dient to  the  faith."  ^  The  necessity  for  organ- 
ization demonstrated  itself  to  the  apostles 
even  before  St.  Paul,  the  great  churchman,  laid 
his  hand  upon  the  helm  ;  it  commended  itself 
to  the  whole  multitude  of  believers  as  rational 
and  in  accord  witn  the  mind  of  Christ.  The 
appointment  of  the  deacons,  the  distribution 

^  Acts  2:  44.  2  Acts  2:  46,  47.  8Acts6:7. 


UPON  CHRISTIANIZATTON  OF  WORLD       71 

of  functions,  that  neither  the  preaching  of  the 
word  nor  the  ordering  of  affairs  should  be 
neglected,  was  the  first  attempt  at  reinterpre- 
tation  of  the  idea  of  the  Church  as  it  lay  in 
the  mind  of  Him  who,  as  preacher,  *'  spake 
as  never  man  spake  "  ;^  as  minister  of  afiairs, 
"  went  about  doing  good."  ^ 

When  the  statesmanlike  genius  of  St.  Paul 
was  consecrated  and  placed  at  Christ's  dis- 
posal, another  reinterpretation  of  the  idea  of 
the  Church  transpired.  It  occurred  as  the 
necessary  correlate  of  St.  Paul's  world-view. 
St.  Paul,  by  birth  and  training  a  Hebrew  of 
the  Hebrews,  a  Pharisee,  a  liturgist,  a  zealot, 
was  by  temperament  and  outlook  a  citizen  of 
the  world.  Never  was  he  disloyal  to  his  own 
nation.  His  heart's  desire  and  prayer  to 
God  for  Israel  w^as  that  they  might  be  saved.^ 
Nevertheless  the  precincts  of  the  temple  were 
too  strait  for  him.  The  tithing  of  mint  and 
anise  and  cumin  were  matters  of  no  more 
weight  to  him  than  to  his  Master.  The  cos- 
mopolitan   spirit    speaks    in    his   words    at 

1  Cf.  John  7  :  47.  ^  Cf.  Acts  10 :  38. 

«Cf.  Acts  10:  I. 


72       BEARING  OF  SECTARIAN  MOVEMENTS 

Antioch  :  ''  Lo  !  we  turn  to  the  Gentiles  I  "  ' 
It  was  cosmopolitanism  refined  by  the 
Messianic  tenderness  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 
The  travail  and  groaning  of  creation  smote 
upon  Paul's  soul ;  the  sorrow,  disorder,  wick- 
edness of  the  world  afflicted  him  as  with  the 
fellowship  of  Christ's  sufferings ;  the  sal- 
vation of  men  became  his  passion  ;  he  would 
become  all  things  to  all  men,  if  by  any  means 
he  might  save  some.  He  received  his  call- 
ing and  ordination  in  terms  that  exacdy  cor- 
responded with  his  temperament.  **  He  is  a 
chosen  vessel  unto  Me  ; "  (so  is  it  said  in  the 
vision  of  Ananias,)  "  To  bear  My  name  be- 
fore the  Gentiles  and  kings  and  the  children 
of  Israel."^  Never  was  leader  more  evi- 
dently chosen  for  a  task  in  view.  No  longer 
was  the  Church  to  hide  like  an  esoteric  sect 
in  the  shadow  of  the  temple.  ''  Fair  as  the 
moon,  clear  as  the  sun,  terrible  as  an  army 
with  banners,"  it  was  to  advance  into  the 
world  as  the  herald  of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
St.  Paul  was  its  providential  leader ;  the  most 
cosmopolitan  of  churchmen.     His  policy  of 

lActs  13:  46.  a  Acts  9:  15. 


UPON  CHRISTIANIZATION  OF  WORLD       73 

administration,  wrought  out  in  the  com- 
munion of  the  Spirit,  related  itself  in  majestic 
simplicity  to  the  work  to  be  done.  That 
work  was  the  Christianization  of  the  world. 
In  the  mind  of  St.  Paul  this  work  might  best 
be  done  through  an  undivided  Church  for- 
ever expanding  its  sphere  of  influence,  and 
always  continuing  under  the  direction  and 
oversight  of  a  central  authority.  "  One 
Lord  ;  one  faith  ;  one  baptism."  ^  Not  as  one 
claiming  papal  jurisdiction,  but  as  one  ac- 
cepting a  God-given  burden  he  undertook 
the  care  of  all  the  Churches.  Absolutely 
without  the  secular  ambitions  and  imperial- 
istic hauteur  of  the  popes,  a  penitent  to  the 
last,  judging  himself  to  be  the  chief  of  sinners, 
nevertheless  in  his  sense  of  vocation  to  lead 
and  govern  an  undivided  Church  he  esteemed 
himself  a  very  vicar  of  Christ,  speaking  the 
wisdom  of  God  in  a  mystery.  To  him,  fore- 
casting the  Church's  future,  there  were  two 
evils  to  be  guarded  against :  the  evil  of  sec- 
tarian movements,  the  evil  of  theological 
variation    from    a   rule   of   faith.     Sectarian 

1  Cf.  Eph.  4 :  5. 


74       BEARING  OF  SECTARIAN  MOVEMENTS 

movements  seemed  to  him  wounds  inflicted 
on  the  body  of  Christ.  He  pleaded  against 
them  :  '*  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  through  the 
name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  ye  all 
speak  the  same  thing  and  that  there  be  no 
divisions  among  you  ;  but  that  ye  be  per- 
fected together  in  the  same  mind  and  in  the 
same  judgment.  For  it  hath  been  signified 
unto  me  concerning  you,  my  brethren,  that 
there  are  contentions  among  you.  Now  this 
I  mean  that  each  one  of  you  saith,  I  am  of 
Paul ;  and  I  of  Apollos  ;  and  I  of  Cephas  ;  and 
I  of  Christ.  Is  Christ  divided  ?  Was  Paul 
crucified  for  you  ?  Or  were  ye  baptized  in 
the  name  of  Paul  ?  "  ^  He  felt  that  sectarian 
movements  were  incompatible  with  the  ideal 
of  a  Church  as  he  conceived  it.  He  spoke  of 
himself  as  a  wise  masterbuilder  ^  who,  by  the 
grace  of  God  given  unto  him  had  laid  a 
foundation  on  which  others  were  to  build. 
To  introduce  sectarian  elements  into  the 
Church  was  to  introduce  material  as  alien 
and  as  base  as  wood,  hay  or  stubble  into  the 
holy  structure,  a  course  which  must  not  only 

»  I  Cor.  1 :  10-13.  3  I  Cor.  3 :  10. 


UPON  CHRISTIANIZATION  OF  WORLD       75 

mar  its  homogeneous  beauty,  but  eventuate 
in  the  destruction  of  the  temple  of  God. 

Not  less  grievous,  in  his  judgment,  was 
the  evil  of  theological  variation  from  a  rule 
of  faith.  He  esteemed  himself  the  depositary 
of  a  God-given  message.  **  I  make  known 
to  you,  as  touching  the  gospel  which  was 
preached  by  me,  that  it  is  not  after  man. 
For  neither  did  I  receive  it  from  man,  nor 
was  I  taught  it,  but  it  came  to  me  through 
revelation  of  Jesus  Christ."  ^ 

With  such  a  view  of  the  source  of  his  own 
authority,  it  is  no  surprise  to  hear  his  pas- 
sionate protest  against  theological  variation  : 
"  I  marvel  that  ye  are  so  quickly  removing 
from  Him  that  called  you  in  the  grace  of 
Christ  unto  a  different  gospel;  which  is  not 
another  gospel ;  only  there  are  some  that 
trouble  you  and  would  pervert  the  gospel  of 
Christ.  But  though  we,  or  an  angel  from 
heaven,  should  preach  unto  you  any  gospel 
other  than  that  which  we  preached  unto  you, 
let  him  be  anathema."  ^ 

The  historical  significance  of  these  convic- 

iGal.  l:  II.  «Gal.  i:  6-8 


76       BEARING  OF  SECTARIAN  MOVEMENTS 

tions  of  the  great  churchman,  Paul,  is  very 
striking.  They  appear  to  contain  the  germs 
of  the  Catholic  movement.  They  represent 
ecclesiastical  and  theological  uniformity  as 
the  necessary  qualification  of  the  Church  of 
Christ,  in  view  of  her  appointment  as  cus- 
todian of  the  faith  and  witness  to  the  Resur- 
rection of  the  Son  of  God.  For  an  unpreju- 
diced mind  it  is  not  difficult  to  admit  the 
reasonableness  cf  the  claim  that  apostolic 
sanction  rests  on  the  Catholic  conception  of 
the  Church.  Strictly  homogeneous  in  polity  ; 
organized  and  administered  from  a  central 
seat  of  power ;  professing  and  teaching  a 
system  of  doctrine  determined  by  authority, 
the  imprimatur  of  the  apostolate  might,  not 
without  reason,  when  the  brief  period  of  the 
undivided  Church  ended,  be  claimed  by  those 
who  ruled  respectively  as  the  vicegerents  of 
God,  from  Rome,  in  the  interest  of  ecclesi- 
astical catholicity,  from  Constantinople,  in 
the  interest  of  the  catholicity  of  theological 
belief. 

The  sense  of  historic  justice  should  prevent 
the  most  ardent  Protestant  from  denying  the 


UPON  CHRISTIANIZATION  OF  WORLD       77 

connection  between  the  Catholic  movement 
and  certain  ideals  of  the  Apostolic  Age, 
especially  the  opposition  to  sectarianism  and 
to  theological  individualism.  The  Catholic 
reinterpretation  of  the  idea  of  the  Church, 
though  it  presents  aspects  of  secular  ambi- 
tion and  of  magisterial  severity  that  seem 
alien  to  the  mind  of  Christ,  does  represent  in 
certain  particulars  the  expansion  and  con- 
tinuance of  Pauline  convictions  enshrined  in 
these  majestic  symbols  of  uniformity  :  "  One 
Lord,  one  Faith,  one  Baptism."  **  One  Body 
in  Christ."  ^  Nor  should  our  love  of  the  liberty 
of  Protestantism  make  us  blind  to  the  place 
and  function  of  Catholicism  in  the  providen- 
tial order  of  the  evolution  of  Christianity. 
Humanly  speaking  there  was  no  other  way 
by  which  to  safeguard  the  interests  at  stake 
during  the  ages  of  ignorance.  The  central- 
ization of  power  under  a  monarchical  epis- 
copate, the  military  precision  of  organization, 
the  enforcement  of  theological  uniformity  by 
external  authority  were  bound,  it  may  be,  to 
generate  abuses  and  to  foster  harmful  beliefs ; 

» Cf.  Eph.  4:5;  Rom.  12:5. 


78       BEARING  OF  SECTARIAN  MOVEMENTS 

yet,  with  the  evil  good  was  mixed,  with  the 
chaff  the  seed  of  faith,  until  the  fullness  of 
the  time  came  when  the  Christian  truth,  origi- 
nally intended  for  popular  use,  could  be  re- 
committed to  the  hands  of  the  people.  As 
we  look  back  on  that  momentous  recommit- 
ment of  truth  to  its  rightful  possessors,  which 
we  are  accustomed  to  call  the  Protestant 
Reformation,  we  see  the  inevitableness  of 
sectarian  movements.  Ecclesiastical  and 
theological  variations  became  a  psycho- 
logical necessity  under  the  intellectual  con- 
ditions that  produced  the  Reformation.  It 
was  not  the  sin  of  schism,  the  vice  of  sec- 
tarianism, that  developed  with  the  unlocking 
of  the  imprisoned  intellectuality  of  Europe ; 
it  was  the  next  great  reinterpretation  of  the 
Divine  idea  of  a  living  Church,  worked  out 
amidst  conditions  of  mental  self-realization. 
During  the  ages  of  ignorance  the  mind  of 
Europe  slumbered.  Submission  to  authority 
in  matters  of  theological  belief  was  normal, 
and  doubtless  salutary.  It  was  better  to 
have  beliefs  defined  and  imposed  by  the 
educated  few  than  to  entrust  the  apostolic 


UPON  CHRISTIANIZATION  OF  WORLD       79 

deposit  to  chaotic  illiteracy.  But  the  found- 
ing of  universities,  the  multiplying  of  books 
and  their  readers,  the  stirrings  of  the  scien- 
tific spirit,  brought  nearer  with  each  sunrise 
the  hour  when  men  must  think  their  way  out 
upon  the  long  meridians  of  the  Christian 
data,  and,  so  thinking,  must  differ  and  sepa- 
rate, borne  hither  and  thither  by  the  breath- 
ings of  the  One  Spirit,  the  Wind  of  God 
blowing  where  it  lists,  unfettered  and  inscru- 
table in  its  coming  and  its  going.  As  the 
Protestant  reinterpretation  of  the  Church 
developed,  the  sectarian  distinctions  became 
more  pronounced  ;  they  took  on  organized 
life  ;  they  developed  histories  and  literatures 
of  their  own ;  they  arrayed  themselves  against 
each  other.  Naturally,  to  those  esteeming 
Catholicity  to  be  the  final  note  of  a  true 
Church,  whether  it  were  the  Greek  Catholicity 
of  dogmatic  orthodoxy  or  the  Roman  Cath- 
olicity of  governmental  control,  the  sectarian 
differentia  of  Protestantism  were  equivalent 
to  apostasy.  It  was  impossible,  and  to-day 
it  is  impossible,  for  minds  inheriting  a  certain 
temperament   and   tradition   to   conceive  of 


8o       BEARING  OF  SECTARIAN  MOVEMENTS 

the  widening  of  faith,  of  the  flexibility  of 
modes  of  its  expression,  of  discrimination 
between  the  inward  essence  of  a  religious 
fact  and  the  outward  terms  of  its  official 
definition,  as  matters  consistent  with  the 
tenure  of  the  truth,  much  less  as  matters  to 
be  desired.  Newman,  in  his  Apologia  de- 
clares (p.  49) :  ''  From  the  age  of  fifteen, 
dogma  has  been  the  fundamental  principle 
of  my  religion ;  I  know  no  other  religion ;  I 
cannot  enter  into  the  idea  of  any  other  sort 
of  religion ;  religion,  as  a  mere  sentiment,  is 
a  dream  and  a  mockery."  From  his  point 
of  view  dogma  stood  for  the  interpretation  of 
truth  by  authority,  as  final.  To  minds  so 
constituted,  the  liberty  and  variety  of  relig- 
ious thinking  within  the  Protestant  com- 
munion, and,  much  more,  the  sectarian  oppo- 
sitions, present  a  stupefying  contrast  to  the 
serene  current  of  authorized  belief  flowing 
from  a  central  fountain.  Such  minds  are 
not  found  only  in  Catholic  and  Anglo-Cath- 
olic  circles ;  they  appear  also  in  the  dissent- 
ing sects  and  are  burdened  by  what  seems 
to  them  the  unmitigated  evil  of  sectarianism. 


UPON  CHRISTIANIZATION  OF  WORLD       8l 

Apparently  what  they  desire  is  uniformity 
upon  the  basis  of  their  own  sect — which 
simply  means  a  new  Catholicism.  Not  in- 
frequently one  hears,  from  sectarian  pulpits, 
the  deprecation  of  sectarianism  as  wholly 
deplorable  if  not  wholly  sinful,  together  with 
the  advocacy  of  a  union  of  believers  under 
what  is  found,  ultimately,  to  be  the  banner 
of  a  single  party. 

We  have  reached  a  point  in  the  evolution 
of  Christianity  where  we  can  realize  the  benefi- 
cence of  sectarian  movements  as  well  as 
their  limitations.  Looking  backward  to  the 
Reformation,  and  considering  it  as  the  intel- 
lectual rebirth  of  religious  thinking,  one  points 
readily  to  five  results  of  Protestant  independ- 
ency which,  as  correctives  of  Catholic  weak- 
nesses and  perils,  more  than  counterbalance 
all  the  regrettable  elements  of  sectarianism. 
The  liberalization  of  religious  thinking ;  the 
distribution  of  authority;  the  counteraction 
of  erroneous  accent ;  the  humanizing  of  Chris- 
tianity ;  the  indirect  testimony  to  the  uni- 
versal are  blessings  that  we  owe  to  the 
divisive   forces   at   work    in    Protestantism; 


82       BEARING  OF  SECTARIAN  MOVEMENTS 

forces  which  by  the  Catholic  are  grouped 
under  the  name  of  apostasy,  and  by  many  a 
Protestant  deplored  as  the  rending  of  the 
body  of  Christ.  The  liberalization  of  relig- 
ious thinking  is  a  practical  synonym  for  the 
survival  of  Christian  experience.  Fidelity  to 
truth  as  one  sees  it  is  the  first  law  of  this  sur- 
vival. When  the  Catholic  movement  under- 
took to  define  the  data  of  Christian  truth  and 
to  delimit  the  frontiers  of  Christian  belief  it 
undertook  that  which,  apparently  easy  at 
first,  and  apparently  permanent  for  a  time, 
was  bound  at  length  to  challenge  the  intel- 
lectual ethics  of  mankind.  It  is  easy  to  con- 
struct the  form  of  a  dogma  to  be  published 
by  authority.  It  is  curiously  interesting  to 
note  upon  what  small,  incidental  action  of 
individuals  may  depend  the  form  of  a  dogma ; 
upon  the  presence  or  absence  of  some  per- 
son ;  upon  the  numerical  chances  of  a  vote ; 
upon  the  current  phraseology  of  the  day. 
The  dogma  once  framed  and  promulgated, 
time,  which  makes  the  angles  of  architecture 
glorious  and  venerable  with  masses  of  ivy, 
invests  the  statement,  framed,  it  may  be,  by 


UPON  CHRISTIANIZATION  OF  WORLD       83 

the  chances  of  a  vote,  with  an  atmosphere  of 
positiveness  or  finahty,  which,  so  long  as  in- 
tellectual conditions  remain  passive,  presents 
the  appearance  of  absolute  truth.  But  time, 
which  glorifies  architecture,  also  undermines 
it.  For  time  is  a  force  made  up  of  changes, 
searching  changes  of  atmosphere ;  rains  that 
eat  into  crevices,  winds  that  blow  the  dust  of 
disintegration  away,  frosts  that  heave  block 
from  block.  And  time  brings  intellectual 
rebirth,  as  spring  after  winter;  intellectual 
vision,  as  day  after  night ;  intellectual  self- 
assertion,  as  manhood  after  infancy ;  and  a 
Christian  experience  that  is  estopped  by 
authority  from  expressing  religious  truth  in 
the  terms  of  intellectual  reality  is  doomed  to 
ethical  decline.  The  characteristic  interpre- 
tations of  truth  in  the  great  Protestant  sects, 
Presbyterian,  Methodist,  Independent,  are,  in 
their  diversity,  guarantees  of  the  strong  sur- 
vival of  Christian  experience.  *'  By  these 
things  men  live,  and  in  all  these  things  is  the 
life  of  my  spirit."  ^ 

The  distribution  of  authority  is  one  of  the 

ilsa.  38:  16. 


84       BEARING  OF  SECTARIAN  MOVEMENTS 

blessings  of  sectarianism.  The  ancient 
dream  of  a  Catholic  Church  is  the  dream  of 
a  centralized  authority,  radiating  its  powers 
of  control  upon  the  whole  world.  It  is  an 
impressive  conception.  The  institutional 
grandeur  of  the  Roman  Church  witnesses  to 
the  impressiveness  of  the  idea ;  the  ethics  of 
mediaeval  popes  and  the  declining  influence 
of  the  modern  papacy  over  the  intellectual 
life  of  the  world  witnesses  to  the  fictitious 
nature  of  the  idea  of  a  central  seat  of  human 
authority  in  matters  of  religion.  One  only 
ever  trod  this  earth  who  could  say  :  "All 
power  is  given  unto  Me"  ^ — and  that  One  was 
meek  and  lowly  in  heart,  coming  not  to  be 
ministered  unto  but  to  minister  and  to  give 
His  life  a  ransom  for  many.  The  Protestant 
rejections  of  centralized  authority  in  religion 
were  prophecies  of  the  spirit  of  democracy, 
which,  in  all  life,  grows  with  the  growth  of 
intellectual  self-realization.  As  the  mind  of 
the  race  expands  it  outgrows,  in  religion,  in 
civil  government,  in  arts  and  letters  certain 
impressions  concerning  the  Divine  rights  of 

1  Matt.  28  :  18. 


UPON  CHRISTIANIZATION  OF  WORLD       85 

kings,  temporal  or  spiritual,  which  belong 
essentially  to  ages  of  submissive  ignorance. 
This  does  not  imply  that  respect  for  author- 
ity is  inconsistent  with  intellectual  liberty  ; 
but  rather  the  reverse :  the  conception  of 
authority,  of  its  nature,  its  seat,  its  adequate 
representatives,  its  proper  functions,  advances 
to  a  higher  plane,  eliminates  fictitious  ele- 
ments, minimizes  the  formal  and  the  object- 
ive, to  magnify  that  which  is  of  the  nature 
of  intellectual  and  moral  reality ;  by  denying 
centralized  authority,  it  advances  to  a  higher 
and  holier  Catholicity. 

The  counteraction  of  erroneous  accent  is 
another  of  the  blessings  of  sectarianism.  It 
is  common  to  hear  deprecations,  sorrowful  or 
scornful,  of  the  lack  of  theological  consensus 
in  Protestantism.  Such  opinions  overlook 
the  fact  that  this  lack  of  consensus  represents 
the  salvation  of  religious  thinking  from  dis- 
astrous specialization.  Whatever  merits 
may  attach  to  the  Catholic  conception  of  a 
churchly  rule  of  faith,  are  balanced  by  the 
inability  of  such  a  rule  to  do  justice  to  the 
whole  truth  of  a  world-wide  religion.     In  our 


86       BEARING  OF  SECTARIAN  MOVEMENTS 

larger  thinking  concerning  the  Church  of 
Christ  as  an  institution  for  the  Christianiza- 
tion  of  the  world,  Catholicism  itself  shrinks 
to  the  proportions  of  a  sect,  that  properly  ac- 
centuates such  things  as,  to  it,  appear  of  pri- 
mary value,  but  overlooks  or  denies  other 
things,  which,  to  minds  difTerently  consti- 
tuted, are  the  major  interests  of  Christianity. 
It  is  well  for  us  to  discriminate  between  the 
differentia  of  the  Christian  sects,  and  the 
common  essence  of  the  Christian  religion. 
Dimly  we  are  realizing  the  presence  of  a 
common  essence;  slowly  that  inestimable 
common  essence  is  disclosing  its  universality 
before  our  eyes ;  wonderingly  we  are  awak- 
ing to  the  potency  of  that  common  essence 
for  the  Christianization  of  the  world.  It  is 
well  for  us  to  reflect  that,  but  for  the  persist- 
ence of  diversity  in  the  sectarian  emphasis 
on  aspects  of  truth,  that  common  essence 
which  is  to  be  the  light  of  the  world  might 
have  remained  buried  under  the  abnormal 
deposit  of  ecclesiastical  specialization. 

The  humanizing  of  Christianity  is  one  of 
the  blessings  of  sectarianism.     ''  Handle  Me 


UPON  CHRISTIANIZATION  OF  WORLD       87 

and  see,"  said  Christ,  ''that  it  is  I  Myself."^ 
As  the  Sabbath  was  made  for  man  and  not 
man  for  the  Sabbath,  so  truth  was  given  for 
man  to  handle,  to  study,  to  assimilate,  to  re- 
incarnate under  the  forms  of  his  own  life  and 
thinking.  It  is  truth,  reincarnated  and  reap- 
pearing in  the  varying  forms  of  human  ex- 
perience, in  the  varying  accents  of  human 
thinking  that  is  the  real  extension  of  the  In- 
carnation of  the  Son  of  God ; — this,  rather 
than  the  institutional  authority  of  a  Church 
defining  truth  in  certain  terms  and  imposing 
those  terms  upon  the  acceptance  of  the  indi- 
vidual. And,  apart  from  the  sadness  of  that 
human  infirmity  whereby  we  tend  to  malign 
and  to  oppose  what  is  not  to  our  mind,  it  is 
most  wholesome  that  men  shall  differ,  each 
thereby  being  true  to  himself  before  God, 
and,  after  the  manner  of  his  own  possibilities 
and  necessities,  so  receiving  Christ.  It  is 
sad  that  Thomas  Arnold  and  John  Henry 
Newman,  both  fellows  of  Oriel,  supposed 
they  had  little  in  common  in  their  religious 
experience,  and   spake   harshly  one   of   the 

'  Luke  24 :  39. 


88       BEARING  OF  SECTARIAN  MOVEMENTS 

Other  ;  yet  doubtless  it  was  needful  for  the 
humanity  of  each  that  each  should  be  true 
to  truth  as  he  saw  it ;  doubtless  it  was  well 
for  England  that  each  should  accent  that 
which,  but  for  the  other,  might  have  been 
overlooked ;  doubtless  they  are  friends  now, 
seeing  eye  to  eye  in  the  common  room  of  a 
Greater  University. 

The  indirect  testimony  to  the  universal  is 
another  blessing  of  sectarianism.  If  it  had 
been  possible  for  one  set  of  men  to  legislate 
the  form  and  content  of  religious  thinking  in 
a  manner  permanently  adequate  for  all  Chris- 
tian experience,  our  conception  of  the  vast- 
ness  of  the  revelation  of  God  in  Christ  would 
shrink.  But  this  never  has  been  possible. 
The  successive  theological  reinterpretations 
have  borne  witness  to  the  sincerity,  and  often 
to  the  insight,  of  those  that  framed  them. 
For  those  who  used  them  they  have  appeared 
to  have  a  relative  sufficiency.  As  present- 
ments of  Christian  thought,  and  interpreta- 
tions of  revealed  truth,  they  have  been  hon- 
oured of  God  and  serviceable  to  man.  But 
their  noblest  quality  has  been,  not  their  rela- 


UPON  CHRISTIANIZATION  OF  WORLD       89 

tive  adequacy,  but  their  absolute  inadequacy  ; 
not  their  direct  witness  to  certain  aspects 
impressing  the  minds  of  those  who  framed 
them,  but  their  indirect  witness,  through  their 
insufficiency  for  other  minds,  to  the  immen- 
sity of  the  scope  of  the  manifestation  to  the 
world,  of  God  in  Christ.  Had  Europe  slept 
in  ignorance  beneath  the  limited  view  of  God 
and  His  universe  that  prevailed  in  the  age  of 
Hildebrand,  and  was  not  materially  enlarged 
by  the  Council  of  Trent,  one  might  conclude 
that  Christianity  is  but  an  ethnic  faith.  But, 
with  the  rebirth  of  learning  and  the  emanci- 
pation of  thought,  came  the  rolling  back  of 
clouds,  the  uncovering  of  landscapes,  the 
multitudinous  self-fulfillments  of  God ;  and  the 
students  of  truth  awoke ;  and  every  one  had 
a  doctrine,  a  tongue,  a  revelation,  an  inter- 
pretation ;^  and  lo!  the  wideness  of  God's 
mercy  was  as  the  wideness  of  the  sea — and 
the  love  of  God  was  broader  than  the  meas- 
ure of  man's  mind. 

It  is  with  deep  feeling  that  I  make  these 
observations    upon  the  blessings  that  have 

1  Cf.  I  Cor.  14 :  26. 


90       BEARING  OF  SECTARIAN  MOVEMENTS 

crome  to  the  Church,  and  indirectly  to  the 
world,  through  the  differentia  of  Protestant- 
ism. In  the  light  of  them  one  sees  the 
broader  justification  of  what  has  been  called 
the  Nonconformist  conscience,  the  irrepressi- 
ble force  of  dissent,  the  psychological  impos- 
sibility of  the  surrender  of  intellectual  inde- 
pendence, the  eagerness  and  heat  of  sectarian 
championships.  These  things  came  not  from 
beneath  ;  they  were  not  born  of  the  spirit  of 
perversity ;  they  were  not  wanton  disturb- 
ances of  the  peace  of  Christ's  Church.  They 
were  means,  in  the  hand  of  the  Spirit, 
whereby  larger  life  came  to  the  body  of 
Christ,  whereby  truth  was  vitalized  in  the 
thinking  of  individuals,  and  responsibility  was 
recommitted  to  the  believers. 

If  it  be  true  that  we  have  reached  a 
point  in  the  evolution  of  Christianity  where 
the  beneficence  of  sectarian  movements  can 
be  apprehended,  it  is  not  less  true  that  we 
are  beginning  to  apprehend  in  our  time  the 
limitations  inherent  in  those  movements  as 
means  for  the  Christianization  of  the  world. 
As  one  thinks  of  them  in  relation  to  the  mind 


UPON  CHRISTIANIZATIOxN  OF  WORLD       91 

of  Christ  an  impression  is  left  that  they  are 
but  partial  fulfillments  of  that  for  which  He 
stands ;  that  they  are  deficient  as  exponents 
of  a  world-religion.  The  inestimable  services 
rendered  by  them,  as  avenues  through  which 
the  liberty  of  Protestants  escaped  from 
mediaeval  authority,  do  not  guarantee  their 
adequacy  in  view  of  new  intellectual  and  re- 
ligious conditions  apparently  at  hand.  As 
they  themselves  were  born  in  the  travail  of  a 
great  age  of  religious  emancipation,  so  it 
may  be  that  they  shall  give  place  to  some  yet 
more  magnificent  reinterpretation  of  the  ideal 
of  Christ,  born  in  the  travail  of  the  momentous 
time  that  lies  before  us.  This  is  not  inher- 
ently impossible,  nor  is  the  possibility  in  any 
sense  one  from  which  the  lover  of  Christ,  of 
the  truth  and  of  the  world  should  turn  away. 
Usage,  tradition,  local  association,  tempera- 
ment endear  our  inheritances  to  us,  and  our 
denominational  inheritances  are  to  many  in- 
expressibly dear.  Yet  he  who  thinks  on 
world  problems  with  a  mind  exempt  from 
prejudice  feels  involuntarily  the  limitations 
that  beset  the  sectarian  difierentia  of  Protes- 


92       BEARING  OF  SECTARIAN  MOVEMENTS 

tantism,  as  vehicles  for  the  embodiment  of 
truth,  that  knows  neither  Jew  nor  Gentile, 
Barbarian,  Scythian,  bond  nor  free,  but  is  the 
common  evangel  of  God  to  the  common  life 
of  the  race.  One  reflects  how  many  of  these 
sectarian  differentia  owe  their  origin  to  the 
factitious  power  of  remote  individuals  operat- 
ing at  crucial  moments  in  a  distant  past ; 
how  the  atmosphere  of  authority  has  gath- 
ered about  them  with  distance;  how  the 
inertia  of  denominational  opinion  may  have 
been  transmitted  through  generations,  while 
the  occasion  for  the  survival  of  that  opinion 
may  have  passed  away ;  how  the  rivalry  of 
sects  may  exhaust  the  dynamic  of  original 
convictions  and  persist  only  by  the  aid  of 
hereditary  tendency. 

As  the  result  of  such  reflections,  there  ap- 
pears before  the  mind  the  possibility  that 
sectarian  movements  may  be  but  a  transi- 
tional aspect,  an  evolutionary  phase  of  Chris- 
tianity, not  a  fixed,  necessary,  final  condition. 
It  is  at  first  startling  to  admit  the  hypothesis 
that  these  systems  of  post-Reformation  think- 
ing may  not  be  fmal  forms  of  Christianity ; 


UPON  CHRISTIANIZATION  OF  WORLD       93 

that,  having  wrought  magnificently  for  the 
vindication  of  Protestant  hberty,  they  may 
have  their  day  and  pass  away,  giving  place 
to  a  greater  reinterpretation.  Yet  the 
strangeness  of  the  thought  does  not  impair 
its  reasonableness.  These  sectarian  systems 
are  relatively  modern  and  relatively  local ; 
they  have  no  special  warrant  of  Christ  to 
sustain  them ;  many  of  them  sprang  from 
episodes  in  European  history  involving  no 
necessary  world-relation,  conferring  no 
special  world-credential.  Our  Western  ge- 
nius for  organization,  our  sectarian  nomencla- 
ture, our  responsiveness  to  ancestral  custom 
have  engaged  energy,  pride,  love  on  behalf 
of  these  systems.  But  it  may  be  that  we 
have  read  into  them  an  undue  importance 
and  have  imputed  to  them  an  unauthorized 
permanence.  It  may  be  that  the  unsatisfac- 
tory conditions  besetting  the  churches  at 
many  points  to-day  are  prophetic  of  the  pass- 
ing of  our  sects  and  the  reincarnation  of  the 
Church  of  the  Living  God  in  forms  of  fresh 
adaptation  to  fresh  and  incalculable  opjx^r- 
tunity.     Who    can    doubt   God's   power   to 


94      BEARING  OF  SECTARIAN  MOVEMENTS 

sweep  away  our  sects  and  reorganize  accord- 
ing to  some  larger  norm  of  life  His  Holy 
Church  I  Who  can  question  that  such  a  re- 
organization, while  it  might  displace  precious 
associations  and  disturb  settled  practices, 
might  also  remove  grave  hindrances  and  for- 
midable embarrassments.  The  impasse  exist- 
ing in  England  by  reason  of  Nonconformist 
resistance  of  parliamentary  legislation  in  the 
interest  of  Anglican  education ;  the  present 
arrest  of  development  in  the  religious  Hfe  of 
Scotland  by  reason  of  technicalities  in  a  trust 
deed  given  sixty  years  ago,  suggest  the  pos- 
sibility that  the  age  of  fallowness  and  disin- 
tegration has  come  to  institutions  that  have 
served  their  time  and  are  ready  to  vanish 
away.  Assuredly  the  ongoing  of  the  Spirit 
and  the  Truth  is  not  to  be  holden  by  parlia- 
mentary decisions.  God  may  have  in  His 
plan  not  the  disestablishment  of  the  Church 
of  England  only,  but  that  larger  disestablish- 
ment of  the  whole  sectarian  principle  which 
implies  reorganization  on  simpler  lines  of 
service,  faith  and  love. 

With  the  greatest  reverence  I   put  these 


UPON  CHRISTIANIZATION  OF  WORLD       95 

thoughts  into  words  ;  they  spring  from  no 
revolutionary  instinct,  nor  from  any  unseemly 
resistance  of  the  disabilities  of  the  present. 
They  spring  from  observation  of  facts  and 
from  reflection  upon  their  import.  The  facts 
of  our  time,  bearing  upon  this  question,  are 
very  striking,  whatever  may  be  their  real  sig- 
nificance. If  we  eliminate  professional  sec- 
tarian agitators  and  examine  the  thinking  of 
the  laity  and  of  the  rank  and  file  of  the 
clergy,  polemical  sectarianism  must  be  de- 
scribed as  a  waning  interest,  an  expiring  fire. 
He  who  gives  his  energies  to  fanning  this 
fire  commonly  is  spoken  of  in  terms  of  regret, 
as  one  misguided  in  his  effort.  The  swords 
that  have  not  yet  become  ploughshares  for 
the  field  of  truth,  the  spears  that  are  not 
yet  bent  into  pruning-hooks  of  social  helpful- 
ness are  esteemed  by  many  regrettable  sur- 
vivals of  a  yesterday  of  ecclesiastical  militar- 
ism. In  circles  of  culture  there  is  coming  a 
truer  sense  of  proportion  touching  the  legiti- 
mate functions  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ, 
in  view  of  the  charge  committed  to  her  by 
her  Head  ;  in  view  of  the  demand  upon  her 


96       BEARING  OF  SECTARIAN  MOVEMENTS 

from  the  larger  interests  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God ;  in  view  of  the  modified  and  momentous 
condition  of  the  world.  Under  the  influence 
of  this  truer  sense  of  proportion  vast  numbers 
of  men  and  women  are  conscious  of  deepen- 
ing impatience  in  the  presence  of  secondary 
barriers.  Undeveloped  conceptions  of  unity 
are  in  the  air,  moving  freely  as  on  the  wings 
of  eagles,  unconsciously  or  indifferently  ig- 
noring formal  lines  of  division  beneath. 
Meantime  the  advancing  philosophy  of  re- 
ligion, the  enriching  discoveries  of  history 
and  archeology,  the  pressure  of  social  prob- 
lems, the  new  cosmopolitanism,  and,  above 
all,  the  constructive  results  of  Biblical  criti- 
cism are  bringing  together  many  of  the  bcs^ 
minds  and  of  the  most  consecrated  souls 
upon  a  platform  of  Christian  belief  and  effort 
incompatible  with  aggressive  sectarianism, 
and  independent  of  denominational  subdi- 
vision. It  would  be  vain  to  estimate  the  ex- 
tent of  this  nucleus  of  unorganized  sentiment 
within  the  Church  of  the  present  day ;  vain  to 
make  a  calculation  of  the  number  of  those 
for  whom  the  denominational  aspects  of  the 


UPON  CHRISTIANIZATION  OF  WORLD       97 

Church  are  already  dim,  as  the  outHnes  of  a 
receding  coast,  and  on  the  horizon  hne  of 
whose  hope  is  rising  the  image  of  a  more 
glorious  and  more  homogeneous  Church,  not 
having  spot  or  wrinkle  or  any  such  thing ;  a 
Church  of  the  living  God,  the  pillar  and 
ground  of  the  truth,  built  upon  the  founda- 
tion of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus 
Christ  Himself  being  the  chief  Corner-stone. 
The  tenor  of  this  sentiment  is  not  revolution- 
ary but  evolutionary ;  not  destructive  but 
constructive ;  not  the  pulling  down  of  noble 
walls  of  conviction,  and  the  upheaval  of  deep 
foundations  of  belief,  laid  by  holy  hands  of 
Protestantism  ;  but  the  carrying  up  of  that 
building  of  God  to  heights  more  royal,  on 
lines  more  simple,  that  the  glory  of  the  latter 
house  may  crown  the  former.  As  we  cannot 
estimate  the  extent  of  this  unorganized  senti- 
ment which  we  believe  to  be  enormous,  in 
favour  of  a  more  homogeneous  and  simpler 
Christianity,  neither  can  we  forecast  the 
form  and  manner  of  its  development.  The 
present  situation  is  perplexing,  indetermi- 
nate,   unsatisfying.     Sectarianism    as    such 


98       BEARING  OF  SECTARIAN  MOVEMENTS 

'  may  be  a  waning  interest,  but  on  the  other 
hand  the  scientific  theology  of  the  present 
day  is  by  no  means  adequate  or  final,  as  a 
substitute  for  scholastic  theology.  It  sets  its 
accent  too  exclusively  on  Jesus  the  teacher, 
on  Jesus  the  idealist,  not  sufficiently  on 
Christ  the  Saviour,  the  Lamb  slain  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world.  The  contributions 
of  the  scientific  theology  are  of  value  inesti- 
mable, but  as  yet  their  scope  is  too  narrow, 
their  depth  too  unequal.  We  wait  for  more 
— and  that  more  must  come  from  the  field  of 
apostolic  Christology.  The  larger  proportion 
of  unorganized  sentiment  yearning  for  a  re- 
interpretation  of  the  Church  on  non-sectarian 
lines  can  crystallize  around  one  axis  only — 
the  Cross  of  the  Redeemen  Give  that  and 
all  else  is  given.  Give  that,  and  all  are  one, 
in  Him.  This  crystallizing  of  unorganized 
sentiment  into  a  reinterpretation  of  the 
Church  on  non-sectarian  lines  would  be,  not 
a  new  ecclesiastical  unity — not  a  new  dog- 
matic unity — that  were  but  to  impose  a  new 
Catholicism,  to  revive  the  dream  of  an  ex- 
ternal seat  of  human  authority,  to  give  the 


UPON  CHRISTIANIZATION  OF  WORLD      99 

Stone  of  death  for  the  bread  of  Hfe.  The  next 
great  reinterpretation  of  the  Church  must  be 
through  the  centraHzing  power  of  the  Eternal 
Truth  Hfted  up  and  drawing  all  men  unto  it- 
self, with  the  vitalizing  power  of  the  Eternal 
Spirit  giving  liberty  unto  every  man. 

Through  such  a  Church  the  Christianiza- 
tion  of  the  world  becomes  possible,  if  not 
immediate.  The  witness  of  such  a  Church 
would  be  an  irresistible  witness.  The  effect 
of  such  a  Church  would  be  the  advent  and 
fruition  of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 


LECTURE  III 

THE  RECOVERY  OF  THE 
APOSTOLIC    THEOLOGY 


LECTURE  III 

THE  RECOVERY  OF  THE 
APOSTOLIC    THEOLOGY 

THE  last  lecture  closed  with  allusion 
to  a  nucleus  of  unorganized  senti- 
ment now  existing  in  the  Church, 
for  which  the  denominational  aspects  of 
Christianity,  as  such,  are  a  waning  interest ; 
and  in  which  the  growing  hope  exists  of  a 
more  homogeneous  Church,  yet  to  be :  a 
reinterpretation  on  non-sectarian  lines.  An 
extended  consideration  of  this  sentiment  is 
necessary,  at  the  present  stage  of  the  argu- 
ment. 

The  existence  of  this  sentiment  is  a  matter 
of  fact,  supported  by  various  and  interesting 
forms  of  evidence.  The  tone  of  preaching  is 
changing.  Fainter  and  less  frequent  is  the 
note  of  polemical  bitterness.  Smaller  grow 
the  areas  within  which  survives  the  zeal  to  do 
God  service  by  vilifying  from  Christian 
pulpits  the  beliefs  and  practices  of  others.     In 


I04  THE   RECOVERY 

the  broad  currents  of  public  thought,  the 
educated  pulpit  is  one  of  the  sure  indicators  of 
religious  tendency,  and  it  is  becoming  more 
and  more  rare  to  hear  an  intelligent  ambas- 
sador for  Christ  attempt  to  commend  the  ex- 
cellence of  his  own  sect  by  attacking  the 
faults  of  another.  By  common  consent  the 
homiletical  consciousness  of  the  age  concerns 
itself  primarily  with  matters  of  effort  and  faith 
involving  essential  and  general,  rather  than 
specialized  and  local,  aspects  of  Christianity. 
That  this  changed  tone  of  preaching  indicates, 
in  all  cases,  a  diminishing  estimate  of  the  im- 
portance of  sectarianism  may  not  be  a  safe 
inference ;  yet,  without  doubt,  it  shows  that 
other  interests  are  taking  its  place.  The 
nature  of  those  other  interests  we  may  con- 
sider, later.  They  are  products  of  the  re- 
ligious thinking  of  sixty  years,  in  England 
and  America.  They  represent  advances  in 
theism,  in  historical  and  practical  theology,  in 
social  ethics,  which  leave,  relatively  meaning- 
less, denominational  issues  that  were  sharp 
and  vital  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 


OF  THE  APOSTOLIC   THEOLOGY         105 

The  tone  of  lay  thinking  is  changing.  It  is 
reflecting  the  influence  exercised  over  their 
generation  by  a  few  men  who  have  spoken 
with  the  authority  of  scholars  and  the  devout- 
ness  of  true  believers,  and  whose  books  have 
been  widely  read.  These  were  men  who  as- 
sumed, without  debate,  that  the  mind  of  the 
age  is  ready  for  larger  questions  than  those 
involved  in  sectarianism  and  who  received 
instant  response  from  the  educated  lay-con- 
sciousness. It  is  not  claimed  that  this  re- 
sponse is  unanimous.  Large  sections  of 
the  laity  have  not  assimilated  the  essential 
results  of  devout  theological  reconstructions. 
Some  have  opposed  them  without  discrimina- 
tion, as  defections  from  the  rule  of  faith. 
Others,  content  with  formal  orthodoxy,  have 
parried  the  incisive  advances  of  thought  with 
the  shield  of  sectarian  conservatism.  But  the 
educated  laity  has  shown  even  greater  in- 
clination than  the  ministry  towards  the  sim- 
plifying of  theology ;  and  greater  readiness  to 
exchange  sectarian  rivalry  for  practical 
catholicity.  With  something  like  intuitional 
accuracy,  strong  laymen  of  all  Churches  are 


Io6  THE   RECOVERY 

in  advance  of  the  clergy  in  separating  the 
wheat  of  essential  Christianity  from  the  chaff 
of  ecclesiasticism.  It  may  be  questioned 
whether  sectarian  agitation  can  long  survive 
the  disapproval  of  an  intelligent,  disinterested 
laity. 

Mention  should  be  made,  also,  of  the 
buoyancy  and  effectiveness  of  extra-ecclesias- 
tical religious  movements,  during  the  last 
half-century.  While  historical  research  and 
philosophical  reconstruction  have  been  redis- 
tributing the  data  of  Christian  belief,  accom- 
plishing, apparently  without  design,  the 
scientific  effacement  of  many  sectarian  dis- 
tinctions, a  spirit  of  Christlike  love  and 
sagacity  has  worked  to  the  same  end,  in  the 
interest  of  practical  helpfulness  and  vital  re- 
ligion. Unauthorized  by  any  ecclesiastical 
tribunal,  yet  abounding  in  apostolic  energy, 
successive  movements  of  high  social  signifi- 
cance have  illustrated  the  eternal  presence  in 
the  Christian  religion  of  those  sympathetic 
forces  that  made  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  a 
Friend  and  a  Brother  rather  than  a  Church- 
man.    The  impressive  development  of  Chris- 


OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  THEOLOGY        107 

tian  Associations  for  men  and  for  women  is 
an  example  of  this.  This  movement  has 
been  in  no  sense  hostile  to  the  Church  nor  im- 
patient of  its  denominational  subdivisions. 
But,  with  singular  simplicity,  it  has  planted 
itself  on  that  in  Christian  experience  which  is 
universal ;  reinterpreting  that  universal  in 
terms  that  disarm  antagonism  and  win  the 
confidence  even  of  non-Christian  nations. 
The  latest  of  these  extra-ecclesiastical  move- 
ments is  the  Religious  Education  Association. 
Whatever  its  future  may  be,  the  interesting 
history  of  its  beginning  shows  that  an  age  has 
come  when  men  having  at  heart  the  welfare 
of  the  world  cannot  be  separated  by  denom- 
inational barriers. 

These  are  examples  of  evidence,  easily  ob- 
tainable, showing  the  existence  of  a  large 
nucleus  of  unorganized  sentiment  favouring 
a  more  homogeneous  interpretation  of  the 
Church.  The  prevailing  temper  of  this  sen- 
timent is  no  less  interesting.  It  is,  distinctly, 
a  non-revolutionary  temper,  not  lending  itself 
to  radicalism  ;  bringing  no  railing  accusation 
against  the  intricate  and  troublous  history  of 


Io8  THE   RECOVERY 

sectarianism.  On  the  contrary,  it  reveres  the 
denominational  tradition,  as  a  witness  to  the 
intellectual  and  moral  virility  of  the  Refor- 
mation. It  appreciates  the  inestimable  value 
of  the  greater  sectarian  movements,  as  con- 
stituents of  Protestant  liberty.  It  attributes 
to  them  (as  was  shown  in  the  last  Lecture)  the 
liberalization  of  religious  thinking ;  the  dis- 
tribution of  authority ;  the  counteraction  of 
erroneous  accent ;  the  humanizing  of  Chris- 
tianity ;  and  a  vast  burden  of  indirect  testi- 
mony to  the  universality  of  the  religion  of 
Christ.  This  sentiment,  as  embodied  in  its 
most  adequate  representatives,  has  no  thought 
of  disturbing  convictions  consecrated  alike 
by  time  and  by  temperament,  nor  of  remov- 
ing institutions  made  sacred  by  history  and 
experience  and  adapted  to  carry  on  conve- 
niently the  business  of  the  Church.  The  tem- 
per of  this  sentiment  is  reverent  towards  the 
past,  and  evolutionary  rather  than  revolution- 
ary towards  the  future.  It  recognizes  in  each 
historic  reinterpretation  of  the  Church, 
Catholic  and  Protestant,  a  sincere  expression 
of     contemporary    necessity.     The     Church 


OF  THE   APOSTOLIC   THEOLOGY         109 

shaped  itself  to  the  intellectual  and  moral 
actuality  of  life  in  each  succeeding  period. 
It  was  at  all  times  a  religious  expression  of 
contemporary  human  consciousness.  When 
men  thought  little  and  tremblingly,  the 
Church  was  autocratic,  imperial,  a  controller 
of  reason  and  lord  of  conscience.  When  men 
thought  vigorously  and  independently,  the 
Church  became  deliberative,  heterogeneous, 
comprehensive,  educational ;  liberty  of  con- 
science was  exalted  above  uniformity ;  the 
right  of  private  judgment  above  submission. 
Thus  the  deep  foundations  of  Protestantism 
were  laid  in  strength  of  conviction,  by  hands 
inured  to  war,  as  ready  to  draw  the  sword  as 
to  open  the  Bible.  For  these  sacred  founda- 
tions the  new  sentiment  spreading  in  the 
Church  entertains  proper  reverence.  It 
dreams  not  of  dislodging  them,  but  of  build- 
ing upon  them  a  nobler  structure,  carrying 
up  the  walls  of  the  Church  to  more  royal 
heights  on  simpler  lines.  It  sees  nothing  es- 
sentially final  in  the  present  development  of 
the  Church  on  the  lines  of  sectarian  division 
evolved   in   post- Reformation   controversies. 


no  THE   RECOVERY 

It  is  conscious  of  a  relative  lack  of  adequacy 
and  efficiency  in  the  present  Protestant  status 
quo.  The  keenness  of  denominational  issues 
having  abated,  public  interest  in  the  churches 
themselves  gives  signs  of  weakness.  There 
is  also  a  relative  lack  of  cooperation  between 
the  various  parts  of  the  Christian  body  ;  most 
evident  in  towns  where  several  sectarian 
churches  survive  by  a  process  of  languid 
competition,  and  a  whole  community  pays 
tribute  to  the  past  by  losing  the  inspiration 
of  common  worship  and  united  effort.  The 
imagination  can  easily  conceive  a  more  apos- 
tolic and  more  adequate  interpretation  of  the 
august  conception  of  the  Church  as  Christ's 
Body  on  earth,  than  that  presented  at  many 
local  points  by  the  Protestant  status  qtio. 
And  it  is  quite  within  the  range  of  possibility 
that  there  shall  be  a  complete  reinterpreta- 
tion  in  the  future,  even  as  there  has  been  in 
the  past.  The  inertia  of  habit  makes  it  diffi- 
cult for  us  to  realize  that  such  a  reinterpreta- 
tion  may  be  at  hand ;  even  one  that  shall  re- 
combine  on  new  and  simpler  lines  the  relig- 
ious life  of  tens  of  thousands  of  towns  and 


OF  THE   APOSTOLIC   THEOLOGY         III 

villages  throughout  the  areas  of  Protestant- 
ism, and  do  away  with  old  distinctions  in  the 
interest  of  new  energy,  reinvigorated  wor- 
ship, wiser  use  of  resources.  It  is  the  peren- 
nial tendency  of  the  human  mind  to  regard 
familiar  conditions  as  permanent,  and  to  put 
away  the  thought  of  fundamental  reconstruc- 
tions of  life.  ''I  shall  never  be  moved"  is 
one  of  the  most  thoroughly  human  of  all  de- 
lusions. The  Papacy,  at  its  princely  height 
of  power,  conceived  itself  seated  in  the 
throne  of  eternal  dominion  ;  the  authoritative 
and  final  interpretation  of  the  Church.  Yet 
science,  philosophy,  democracy,  and  the  si- 
lent breathing  of  the  free  Spirit  of  God  have 
drawn  out  from  Papal  control  the  dominant 
religious  forces  of  the  world  and  have  opened 
a  vista  of  religious  development  in  which  the 
recovery  of  the  mediaeval  conception  of  au- 
thority grows  ever  more  impossible.  We 
and  our  fathers  have  lived  in  the  denomina- 
tional atmosphere ;  it  has  permeated  our 
forms  of  thought ;  it  has  preempted  our  out- 
look ;  by  the  laws  of  association  and  analogy 
it  gives  promise  of  continuance ;  yet  in  our 


112  THE   RECOVERY 

time  many  thousands  of  our  most  conse- 
crated clergy  and  laity  involuntarily  think  of 
sectarianism  as  a  waning  interpretation  of  the 
great  Churchly  conception,  and  consolidate 
their  efforts  on  lines  that  traverse  all  sectarian 
boundaries  and  embrace  all  who  name  the 
name  of  Christ.  Whether  we  approve  or 
disapprove  this  sentiment  is  not  the  question. 
The  sentiment  exists  ;  each  year  is  making  it 
more  prominent.  The  vision  of  some  larger 
unity  as  yet  unrealized  is  characteristic  of  our 
time.  It  haunts  our  thinking.  I  have  much 
sympathy  with  those  who  resist  and  resent 
this  idea ;  w^ho  desire  that  all  things  shall 
continue  as  they  have  been.  Use,  familiarity, 
fond  associations  endear  existing  institutions, 
and  our  affections  prompt  us  to  impute  to 
them  permanence.  Meanwhile  intellectual 
and  religious  conditions  may  be  changing  in 
ways  of  which  others  are  becoming  conscious 
although  we  remain  in  fond  unconsciousness ; 
ways  which  day  by  day  are  making  large  re- 
adjustments inevitable  because  of  the  increas- 
ing number  to  whom  the  present  is  unsatis- 
factory.    The  purpose  of   this  Lecture  is  to 


OF  THE   APOSTOLIC   THEOLOGY         113 

deal  with  this  sentiment  in  favour  of  a  more 
homogeneous  Church,  considering  the  nature 
of  the  sentiment,  its  reasonableness,  its  con- 
tent, its  value.  I  propose  to  speak  not  as  an 
advocate  of  the  sentiment,  but  as  a  student 
of  its  phenomena  so  far  as  these  can  be  esti- 
mated from  a  close  study  of  unformulated 
contemporary  data.  What  is  it  that  is 
wanted?  What  is  it  that  is  hoped  for  by 
the  noblest  souls  that  profess  to  be  dissatis- 
fied with  the  Protestant  stains  quo  ?  I  shall 
try  to  put  this  desire  and  hope  into  words. 

It  is  important,  for  the  purposes  of  our 
discussion,  correcdy  to  estimate  the  nature  of 
the  sentiment  under  consideration,  discrimi- 
nating between  it  and  certain  more  or  less 
familiar  theories  of  improving  the  ecclesias- 
tical situation.  It  should  therefore  be  pointed 
out  that  this  longing  for  a  more  homogene- 
ous Church  is  not  a  desire  for  some  new  form 
of  ecclesiastical  uniformity ;  for  a  Church 
homogeneous  in  structure  and  under  central 
authority.  So  to  reorganize  Protestantism 
would  be,  in  effect,  to  create  a  new  Roman 
Catholicism.     This  is  a  psychological  impos- 


114  THE   RECOVERY 

sibility.  We  are  farther  away  from  it  than 
ever  before.  There  are  individualizing-  tend- 
encies at  work,  in  the  intellectual  world,  in 
the  social  world,  in  the  world  of  religious 
experience,  which  place  beyond  the  bounds 
of  possibility  a  general  revival  of  the  Roman 
ideal.  I  refer  to  that  ideal  with  respect.  It 
has  elements  of  majesty  and  efficiency ;  but 
it  would  be  as  easy  to  arrest  the  stars  in  their 
courses  as  to  bring  the  enormous  bodies  of 
educated  Nonconformity  into  submission  be- 
neath a  central  ecclesiastical  authority.  Nor 
do  I  think  the  Anglican  substitute  for  Roman 
Catholic  uniformity  more  likely  to  prevail. 
I  have  reference  to  the  sincere  but  unavail- 
able proposal  of  the  Anglican  Communion 
to  outline  a  basis  so  broad  and  simple  that 
all  Protestant  Christendom  can  stand  together 
upon  it.  The  proposal  of  the  Lambeth  Con- 
ference was  to  establish  a  fourfold  basis  of 
organic  union :  The  Holy  Scriptures ;  The 
Two  Sacraments ;  The  Catholic  Creeds ;  The 
Historic  Episcopate.  It  was  a  noble  pro- 
posal, broadly  interpreted  by  irenic  and 
statesmanlike  prelates.     The  immediate  and 


OF  THE   APOSTOLIC   THEOLOGY         115 

most  obvious  limitation  upon  its  effective- 
ness was  the  fourth  member  of  the  quadri- 
lateral :  the  Historic  Episcopate.  The  in- 
tervening years  have  developed  intellectual 
conditions  that  might  create  other  grounds 
of  dissent.  But  deeper  than  all  concrete 
dissent  from  the  specifications  of  the  Lambeth 
Conference  is  the  fundamental  state  of  mind 
produced  by  the  individualizing  tendencies 
of  modern  culture  and  modern  activity.  To 
multitudes  of  strong  men  in  the  ministry  and 
in  the  laity  the  necessity  for  structural  and 
institutional  unity  in  the  Church  is  growing 
less  and  less  apparent ;  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  naturalness  and  flexibility  of  struc- 
tural variation  is  becoming  more  and  more 
consistent  with  modern  conditions  of  intel- 
lectual life  and  modern  types  of  spiritual 
fellowship  and  growth. 

It  is  possibly  a  fair  characterization  of  the 
present  state  of  religious  feeling,  to  say  that 
while,  on  the  one  hand,  the  maintenance  of 
acute  sectarian  issues  is  a  waning  interest, 
on  the  other  hand,  zeal  for  ecclesiastical 
unity,  on  a  basis  of  voluntary  structural  uni- 


Il6  THE   RECOVERY 

formity,  is  also  decreasing.  The  interpreta- 
tion of  this  situation,  so  different  from  the 
common  aspects  of  the  past,  may  be  as  fol- 
lows :  The  whole  matter  of  churchly  authority 
means  less  than  it  used  to  mean  to  the  cul- 
tured clerical  mind,  and  very  much  less  to  the 
cultured  lay  mind.  It  savours  of  unreality. 
The  real  thought  of  the  age  is  grappling 
with  problems  far  more  vital  and  engrossed 
in  work  far  broader.  To  go  back  to  the  old 
conception  of  Catholic  authority  as  a  primary 
interest,  or  to  engage  the  efforts  of  the 
strongest  and  most  cosmopolitan  minds  in  a 
movement  for  ecclesiastical  uniformity  would 
be  to  force  the  hand  many  degrees  back- 
wards on  the  dial  of  time.  The  old  issues 
cannot  be  revived.  The  old  sense  of  the 
importance  and  reality  of  churchly  authority 
cannot  be  recovered.  The  Christian  con- 
sciousness perceives  new  doors  opening  in 
God's  world ;  new  light  breaking.  Once  more 
sounds  through  the  earth  the  Awful  Voice 
that  spake  to  the  son  of  Amoz  :  "Whom  shall 
I  send?  And  who  will  go  for  us?"^  When 
>  Is.  6  :  8. 


OF   THE   APOSTOLIC   THEOLOGY         117 

that  Voice  speaks,  the  prophetic  soul   turns 
to  the  future,  not  to  the  past. 

It  should  also  be  pointed  out  that  the  sen- 
timent under  consideration,  representing  dis- 
satisfaction with  the  Protestant  status  quo,  and 
desire  for  some  more  homogeneous  and  sim- 
ple interpretation  of  the  Church  does  not  have 
in  view  the  creation  of  some  new  standard  of 
theological  orthodoxy  to  which  the  various 
sects  shall  agree  to  bind  themselves.  How- 
ever attractive  to  the  imagination  is  the  pic- 
ture of  theological  uniformity,  as  contrasted 
with  the  varying  sectarian  symbols,  the  rea- 
son perceives  the  illusion  that  invests  the  idea 
of  a  common  confessional  standard  for  Prot- 
estantism. The  attempt  to  create  such  a 
standard  would  be,  in  principle,  an  attempt 
to  revive,  amidst  the  unique  intellectual  con- 
ditions of  modern  life,  the  ancient  ideal  of  the 
Eastern  Church.  Catholicity,  according  to 
that  ideal,  was,  not  institutional  uniformity  of 
government,  but  philosophical  uniformity  of 
thought.  Therefore  the  Eastern  Church  as- 
sumed the  tide  :  The  Holy  Orthodox  Chun  h, 
and,  by  that  tide,  intimated  her  hope  to  bring 


Il8  THE   RECOVERY 

the  thoughts  of  men  into  captivity  to  one  con- 
fessional standard,  promulgated  by  authority. 
Possibly  we  are  farther  away  from  that  norm 
of  Catholicity  than  any  age  since  the  Council 
of  Nicaea.  Not  only  is  no  such  common  con- 
fessional standard  available,  but  no  general 
desire  for  it  appears.  The  spirit  of  the  rising 
generation  does  not  promise  a  growing  inter- 
est in  some  elaborate  and  comprehensive 
Confession  of  Faith,  which  shall  cover  the 
whole  field  of  theology  and  make  a  platform 
on  which  all  believers  can  unite.  There  are 
deep  reasons  for  this  absence  of  desire  for 
confessional  uniformity  ;  reasons  that  are  not 
commonly  cited  by  those  who  vaguely  lament 
the  decline  of  interest  in  the  earlier  concep- 
tions of  orthodoxy.  Many  who  attempt  to 
analyze  this  phenomenon  of  declining  inter- 
est in  orthodoxy,  a  phenomenon  particularly 
marked  in  circles  of  culture,  detect  only  the 
secondary  causes  and  overlook  primary  con- 
siderations that  greatly  modify  the  situation. 
Our  estimate  of  that  situation  is  affected  by 
our  own  training  and  point  of  view.  Those 
who  have  been  thoroughly   trained  under  a 


OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  THEOLOGY        1 19 

sectarian  standard  and  who  have  done  their 
work  and  their  thinking  chiefly  within  sec- 
tarian boundaries,  see  only  decadence  and 
danger  in  the  wide-spreading  indifference  to 
orthodoxy  as  such.  They  attribute  it  to  the 
following  causes,  which  are  described  as  char- 
acteristic of  the  present  age :  impatience  of 
theological  restraint ;  growth  of  rationalism  ; 
substitution  of  vague  religious  sentiment  for 
definite  belief.  Undoubtedly  these  reasons 
for  the  decline  of  interest  in  orthodoxy  on  the 
part  of  many  earnest  and  educated  people 
apply  to  a  certain  measure,  perhaps  a  rela- 
tively large  measure,  of  modern  thinking. 
Impatience  of  theological  restraint  exists  and 
has  been  stimulated  by  sincere  but  futile  ef- 
forts on  the  part  of  some,  to  bring  judicial 
coercion  to  bear  upon  the  intellectual  proc- 
esses of  others.  The  growth  of  rationalism 
is  a  vague  term  ;  it  means  for  some  a  grow- 
ing appreciation  of  the  right  and  duty  of 
thinking,  but  doubdess  also  it  has  produced 
in  many  a  reaction  against  the  type  of  faith 
that  vacates  its  intellectual  birthright  under 
submission  to  authority.     The  substitution  of 


I20  THE   RECOVERY 

vague  religious  sentiment  for  definite  belief 
is  undoubtedly  one  of  our  inheritances  from 
Wordsworth  and  Coleridge,  from  the  new 
knowledge  of  Oriental  thought,  from  the  later 
psychology;  and  one  would  not  undertake 
to  deny  that  upon  many  sensitive  and  intel- 
lectual souls  it  has  brought  down  a  veil  of 
obscurantism,  hiding  the  profounder  mean- 
ings of  the  Incarnation  and  Sacrifice  of  the 
Son  of  God.  But,  while  the  foregoing  rea- 
sons do,  in  part,  explain  the  modern  decline 
of  interest  in  orthodoxy,  there  are  other  rea- 
sons, of  deep  seriousness  and  sacredness, 
which  more  adequately  explain  the  attitude 
of  a  great  number  of  pure  and  devout  minds 
that  are  finding  less  and  less  satisfaction  in 
the  sectarian  confessions  of  faith,  and  that  do 
not  look,  with  hope  or  with  desire,  for  the 
formulation  of  some  new  and  comprehensive 
standard  that  shall  determine  the  orthodoxy 
of  the  future.  Briefly  stated,  these  deeper 
reasons  include  the  following  :  It  is  becoming 
more  and  more  apparent  to  many  who  have 
pondered  the  breadth  of  God's  Word,  the 
depth  and  variousness  of  Christian  experience, 


OF   THE   APOSTOLIC   THEOLOGY         121 

and  the  profound  phenomena  of  the  religious 
life  of  the  race,  that  no  one  standard  of  belief, 
drawn  up  by  official  authority,  can  be  suffi- 
ciently comprehensive  to  satisfy  the  grovvinf;;- 
company  of  those  who  truly  hold  the  funda- 
mental truths  of  the  Christian  religion.  The 
Christian  religion  is  greater  than  any  possible 
official  interpretation  of  it.  It  is  also  becom- 
ing evident  to  such  minds  that  the  whole  con- 
ception of  orthodoxy,  as  meaning  conformity 
to  a  standard  drawn  up  by  authority  and  offi- 
cially adopted  as  the  touchstone  of  belief,  no 
longer  satisfies  the  most  spiritual  minds  who 
desire  only  to  know  and  to  utter  the  truth,  as 
that  truth  is  revealed  in  Holy  Scripture  and 
certified  inwardly  to  the  believer  through  the 
witness  of  Christian  experience,  which  is  the 
direct  and  immediate  channel  of  the  Holy 
Spirit's  testimony.  There  is  a  growing  feel- 
ing that  the  technical  idea  of  orthodoxy,  as 
signifying  conformity  to  an  external  authority 
rather  than  inward  conviction  of  vital  truth, 
has  tempted  men  to  preach  what  seemed  to 
be  expedient  from  the  point  of  view  of  exter- 
nal order  and  ecclesiastical  discipline,  rather 


122  THE  RECOVERY 

than  to  preach,  in  the  irresistible  power  of  the 
Spirit,  truth  certified  to  the  reason,  the  con- 
science and  the  affections,  in  the  common  ex- 
perience of  the  spiritual  children  of  God. 
Sixty  years  ago,  Whately,  one  of  the  major 
prophets  of  the  nineteenth  century,  lifted  up 
his  voice  against  the  sin  of  preaching  what 
seems  to  be  expedient  from  the  point  of 
view  of  orthodoxy.  In  his  essay  ''  On  the 
Love  of  Truth  "  (an  essay  that  ought  to  be 
engraven  on  the  heart  of  any  man  going  out 
into  the  ministry  to-day),  he  points  out  that 
this  is  the  sin  which  most  easily  besets  those 
who  are  engaged  in  the  instruction  of  others. 
The  subtle  penalty  of  the  sin  is  that  the  con- 
sciousness of  insincerity  gradually  wears 
away,  and  the  usage  of  preaching  makes  easy 
the  repetition  of  ideas  full  of  unreality.  '*  He 
who  does  not  begin  by  preaching  what  he 
believes,  will  end  by  believing  what  he 
preaches."  His  habit  of  discriminating  the 
true  from  the  false  will  decay.  He  will  lose 
the  power  of  distinguishing  what  conclusions 
are  true.  From  such  a  ministry  the  mantle 
of   power   is   withdrawn.     Even  if  truth   be 


OF  THE   APOSTOLIC   THEOLOGY         123 

preached,  the  self-evidencing  glory  of  orig- 
inal conviction  has  departed  from  the  preacher. 
From  henceforth  the  Divine  energy  which 
pierces  the  souls  of  men  as  with  a  two-edged 
sword  no  longer  emanates  from  him.  He 
remains  orthodox,  yet  powerless.  It  may  be 
that  orthodoxy  and  truth  are  identical.  Many 
times  they  are  identical.  But  there  is  an  in- 
creasing number,  in  and  out  of  Christian  pul- 
pits, who  believe  that  the  first  interest  must 
be  truth  ;  to  hold  things  and  to  preach  things 
not  because  they  are  declared  true,  but  be- 
cause they  are  true. 

There  remains  one  other  reason  to  be 
cited  in  explanation  of  the  declining  in- 
terest in  confessional  orthodoxy  which  is 
a  phenomenon  of  contemporary  religious 
thinking.  To  many  who,  by  the  modern 
processes  of  Biblical  study  have  arrived  at 
new  and  larger  appreciation  of  Holy  Scrip- 
ture, it  appears  that  the  sectarian  confessions, 
however  excellent  in  themselves,  stand  be- 
tween the  mind  of  the  believer  and  that  all- 
sufficient  and  Divine  provision  which  God 
has  made  in  His  Holy  Revelation  of  Truth. 


124.  THE    RECOVERY 

As  a  more  adequate  knowledge  of  the  Bible 
is  reached,  the  sectarian  confession  appears 
to  become  unnecessary.  In  many  instances 
it  seems  to  offer  a  narrower  and  more  shal- 
low foundation  for  faith  than  that  eternal  and 
suf^cient  foundation  that  is  laid  already  in 
the  Living  Word  and  the  Written  Word  of 
God.  A  study  of  the  great  sectarian  con- 
fessions, from  this  point  of  view,  and  even  of 
the  so-called  Catholic  creeds — the  Nicene 
Creed  and  the  Apostles'  Creed — shows  their 
inadequacy ;  an  inadequacy  growing  out  of 
the  fact  that  generally  these  official  deliver- 
ances came  into  existence  to  controvert  cer- 
tain contemporaneous  errors.  They  were 
not,  and  by  their  framers  were  not  intended 
to  be — comprehensive  instruments.  They 
dealt  with  matters  then  in  dispute,  but  left 
out  other  fields  of  truth  which,  not  being  un- 
der discussion  at  the  time,  were  silently  taken 
for  granted.  In  illustration  of  this  one  may 
point  to  the  inadequacy  of  the  Westminster 
Confession  of  1643  in  its  deliverances  on  the 
Person  of  Christ  and  on  the  Christianization 
of   the    world.     The  religious  consciousness 


OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  THEOLOGY         125 

of  later  Presbyterianism  has  demanded  and 
obtained  partial  recompense  for  these  omis- 
sions. In  like  manner  the  Apostles'  Creed, 
venerable  and  beautiful  as  it  is,  embodying- 
many  of  the  most  precious  associations  and 
immortal  convictions  of  the  Church  of  Christ, 
furnishes  little  that  satisfies  a  Christian  of  the 
apostolic  type,  touching  the  Divinity  of  our 
Blessed  Lord,  or  His  Most  Holy  and  Avail- 
ing Atonement.  The  deepest  spiritual  life  of 
to-day  retains  the  Catholic  creeds  with  joy 
as  expressions  of  devotion  and  as  holy  in- 
heritances ;  but  not  as  tests  of  belief.  It  feels 
the  need  of  going  behind  these  partial  state- 
ments to  find  the  satisfaction  of  its  religious 
needs  in  the  Divine  fullness  of  Scriptural 
Revelation. 

I  have  now  attempted  to  differentiate  the 
sentiment  in  favour  of  a  more  homogeneous 
and  simple  interpretation  of  the  Church  from 
those  expressions  of  a  similar  desire  which 
have  projected,  as  the  means  of  its  fulfill- 
ment, on  the  one  hand,  organic  institutional 
uniformity  under  central  ecclesiastical  au- 
thority ;  on  the  other  hand,  confessional  uni- 


126  THE   RECOVERY 

formity,  under  one  comprehensive  standard  of 
orthodoxy.  If  this  differentiation  has  been 
successful  we  are  brought,  by  a  process  of 
ehmination,  to  ask :  What,  then,  does  this 
sentiment  in  favour  of  a  homogeneous 
Church,  desire  ?  Can  we  interpret  this  yearn- 
ing for  some  greater  and  better  embodiment 
of  the  Hfe  of  the  Christian  society,  which 
fills  many  true  and  worshipful  hearts  that 
are  dissatisfied  with  the  Protestant  status  quo  ? 
As  one  who  has  encountered  this  sentiment 
in  many  parts  of  the  world  and  in  many 
centres  of  noble  influence,  let  me  attempt  to 
give  an  account  of  its  nature :  It  appears  to 
be  a  growing  conviction  that  in  the  religion 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  there  are  certain 
universal  and  permanent  elements,  which 
constitute  the  essence  of  the  religion.  I 
shall  not  describe  this  essence  as  the  irreduci- 
ble minimum,  lest  I  be  supposed  to  teach 
that  its  content  is  small  and  meagre.  On  the 
contrary  its  content  is  majestic  and  opulent. 
The  fullness  of  the  Godhead  is  in  it ;  the 
depths  of  the  riches  of  Divine  grace  are  in 
it ;  the  unspeakable  gift  of  God  is  in  it ;  the 


OF  THE  APOSTOLIC   THEOLOGY         127 

treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge  are  in  it ; 
the  depth  and  height  and  breadth  and  length 
of  the  love  of  God  are  in  it.  The  growing  ap- 
preciation of  the  Biblical  content,  the  broad- 
ening scope  of  Christian  experience  are  dis- 
closing the  vast  proportions  of  these  universal 
and  permanent  elements  that  constitute  the 
essence  of  the  Christian  religion.  It  is  be- 
coming more  apparent  to  the  most  earnest 
religious  thinking  of  our  time  that  these 
characteristic  data  of  our  religion  are  the 
common  possession  of  all  who  hold  the 
Christian  faith  and  the  common  opportunity 
of  all  people  under  heaven  ;  that  this  essence 
abides  in  every  age ;  that  the  sectarian  differ- 
entia of  Protestantism  have  not  broken  the 
unity  and  suf^ciency  of  this  essence  ;  and  that 
believers  everywhere,  who,  by  birth  and 
training  represent  different  sects,  are  awak- 
ing to  a  sense  of  their  common  inheritance 
and  are  being  drawn  together  through  their 
voluntary  assimilation  of  the  common  belief. 
Joined  with  this  sense  of  the  common  essence 
is  the  growing  conviction  that  the  Spirit  is 
leading  on  towards  a  reinterpretation  of  the 


128  THE   RECOVERY 

idea  of  the  Church,  in  which  a  new  Hfe  and 
power  and  a  new  capacity  for  the  Christian- 
ization  of  the  world  shall  develope  through- 
out the  Church ;  interest  in  the  sectarian 
differentia  being  superseded  by  vitalized 
conceptions  of  the  fundamental  and  common 
truths.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  senti- 
ment which  I  am  analyzing  is  altogether 
different  from  impatience  of  theological  re- 
straint, or  growth  of  rationalism,  or  substitu- 
tion of  vague  religious  sentiment  for  definite 
belief.  So  far  from  this,  it  is  a  sentiment  in 
the  highest  degree  spiritual ;  in  the  highest 
degree  favourable  to  what  may  be  described 
as  a  renaissance,  a  new  birth,  of  faith  ;  the  re- 
covery of  a  faith  in  the  essentials  of  Chris- 
tianity that  shall  be  clothed  with  springlike 
vivacity  and  beauty. 

The  nature  of  this  sentiment  having 
been  exhibited,  we  may  now  proceed  to 
determine  its  reasonableness.  Pious  senti- 
ment is  not  always  reasonable.  Its  inten- 
sity may  make  it  irrational.  ''  Stung  by  the 
splendour  of  a  sudden  thought,"  it  may 
ignore    practiced    conditions   and    tendencies 


OF  THE  APOSTOLIC   THEOLOGY        129 

that  place  the  object  of  desire  beyond  the 
bounds  of  probabihty.  But  the  present  wide- 
spread yearning  for  a  more  simple  reinter- 
pretation  of  the  idea  of  the  Church  is  sup- 
ported by  considerations  that  appeal  to  reason. 
The  reasonableness  of  this  sentiment  appears 
in  three  particulars :  its  philosophical  proba- 
bility ;  its  concurrence  with  the  analogy  of 
truth ;  its  harmony  with  the  ideal  of  Jesus 
Christ.  The  growing  Christian  consciousness 
of  a  common  essence  and  deposit  of  truth  is 
philosophically  normal,  in  view  of  the  growth 
of  culture  and  the  advancement  of  friendly 
intercourse  between  representative  members 
of  Christian  sects.  Segregation  and  igno- 
rance beget  and  protect  prejudice.  They  lend 
themselves  to  the  exaggeration  of  differences 
and  the  propagation  of  strifes.  Race  hatreds 
and  caste  barriers  are  promoted  by  them ; 
sectarian  animosities  are  perpetuated.  With 
the  enrichment  of  culture  and  the  enlarging 
horizon  of  thought  come  humanistic  inter- 
course, unconscious  growth  of  fraternalism ; 
unifying  of  sentiment ;  coordination  of  ex- 
perience.    The  process  is  involuntary  :  as  cul- 


I30  THE   RECOVERY 

ture  grows  people  cannot  be  kept  apart  by 
imaginary  barriers ;  they  attain  substantial 
oneness  without  plan  or  intention ;  they  awake, 
from  dreams  of  prejudice,  to  see  eye  to  eye 
beneath  the  impartial  light  of  reality.  Such 
must  be  the  history  of  religious  thought,  as  a 
true  historical  perspective  and  a  normal  inter- 
change of  experience  dissolves  the  shadowy 
prejudices  of  a  few  hundred  years,  and  sets 
above  all  segregating  illusions  the  vision  of 
the  Eternal  Majesty  of  Christ.  Not  alone  in 
its  philosophical  probability  does  the  reason- 
ableness of  the  present  sentiment  appean 
One  must  observe  also  its  concurrence  with 
the  analogy  of  truth.  In  the  history  of 
human  thought  fundamental  truth  is  seen  to 
be  self-evidencing.  The  monumental  prop- 
ositions that  involve  the  physical  or  moral 
life  of  the  race  emerge  into  certitude  and 
rise,  like  pyramids  upon  the  desert ;  imper- 
ishable facts  towering  above  the  levels  of 
local  incident.  Monotheism ;  monogamy ; 
equality  of  rights  in  a  democratic  state  are 
truths  that  depend  on  the  voice  of  no  man 
nor    school ;     they    rise    in    self-evidencing 


OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  THEOLOGY        131 

authority  to  command  the  homage  of  the 
moral  reason,  as  among  the  things  that  can- 
not be  shaken.  So  the  substantial  content  of 
the  Christian  revelation  vindicates  itself  in 
the  Christian  consciousness,  as  time  advances. 
Its  authority  is  not  that  of  council  or  sect. 
It  is  a  self-evidencing  authority  that  abides — 
the  same  yesterday,  to-day  and  forever. 
The  caravans  cross  the  desert,  encamp  be- 
neath the  shadow  of  the  pyramids,  pass  on 
their  way :  the  pyramids  stand,  neither  im- 
patient for  their  coming  nor  vexed  by  their 
going.  The  sectarian  movements  of  Chris- 
tian thought  pass  and  repass  before  the  un- 
troubled majesty  of  apostolic  truth ;  the 
schools  debate  and  divide ;  the  currents  of 
opinion  meet  in  controversy ;  the  toil  of  the 
scholar  continues.  Meanwhile  the  things 
that  cannot  be  shaken  abide  in  the  eternal 
calm,  and  men  look  up  to  them  with  clearer 
eyes  and  love  them  with  a  deepening  love 
that  casts  out  fear  and  lifts  above  partisan- 
ship and  strife. 

The  reasonableness  of  the  present  senti- 
ment  appears   in  one  other  particular:    Its 


132  THE   RECOVERY 

harmony  with  the  ideal  of  Jesus  Christ.  In 
the  untroubled  majesty  of  the  Christian  reve- 
lation, the  central  feature  is  the  Person  of 
Christ  as  presented  in  the  Fourth  Gospel. 
The  portraitures  of  the  Synoptists  are  full  of 
the  enchanting  realism  of  humanity.  In 
them  Jesus  of  Nazareth  walks  before  us  as 
our  Brother-Man ;  in  the  corn-fields ;  in  the 
fishing-boat ;  at  the  feast ;  by  the  sick-bed ; 
in  the  garden;  on  the  Cross — He  is  every- 
where transfused  with  the  reality  of  man- 
hood. But  in  the  Fourth  Gospel  we  have 
the  prescient  Christ  of  God ;  the  Christ  of 
Christian  experience ;  the  Christ  that  has 
made  Christianity  what  it  is  at  its  best. 
Around  the  Fourth  Gospel  pass  and  repass 
continually  the  several  phases  of  critical 
opinion,  but  the  Christ  of  the  Fourth  Gospel, 
who  is  also  the  Christ  of  the  Epistles,  towers 
in  His  Divine  Majesty  above  all  critical  opin- 
ion whatsoever  ;  self-revealing  ;  self-evidenc- 
ing. His  ideal  for  His  Church  is  strikingly 
suggestive  of  the  wide-spread  sentiment  that 
is  turning  from  the  denominational  status 
quo  of  Protestantism  towards  some  greater 


OF  THE  APOSTOLIC   THEOLOGY        133 

and  simpler  interpretation  of  the  spirit  of  the 
Christian  society.  The  prescient  Christ  evi- 
dently hoped  and  expected  His  followers 
ultimately  to  concur  among  themselves  and 
to  become  one  in  Himself.  For  this  concur- 
rence He  prayed.  It  is  impossible  to  believe 
His  prayer  to  have  been  in  vain.  Its  fulfill- 
ment in  time  is  certain.  If  we  understood 
the  signs  of  our  age  better,  and  were  less 
embarrassed  by  precedent  and  prejudice  in 
interpreting  them,  we  might  not  find  it  diffi- 
cult to  comprehend  the  new  spiritual  and 
intellectual  movements  of  the  last  sixty  years 
and  to  account  for  the  present  situation  in 
the  sectarian  churches.  It  is,  at  least,  rea- 
sonable to  admit  the  possibility  that  a  great 
movement  towards  the  Christly  conception 
of  a  simplified  Church  is  near  at  hand,  even 
at  our  doors. 

I  come  now  to  the  most  vital  part  of  my 
subject,  namely :  The  Content  of  the  Com- 
mon Essence.  I  have  attempted  to  show 
that  the  present  sentiment  in  favour  of  a 
homogeneous  Church  arises  not  from  the 
desire   for  institutional  or  confessional   uni- 


134  THE  RECOVERY 

formity,  but  from  a  new  appreciation  of  the 
universal  and  permanent  elements  of  the 
Christian  religion  as  constituting  a  common 
essence.  This  vivid  realization  of  the  com- 
mon essence  causes  many  to  grow  impatient 
of  the  complicated  Protestant  status  qiw,  with 
its  elaborate  sectarian  organizations,  its  costly 
duplications  of  effort,  and  its  very  moderate 
percentage  of  success  in  influencing  the  life 
of  Christianized  communities  and  in  accom- 
plishing the  Christianization  of  the  world. 
The  theory  of  the  Church,  as  at  present  con- 
stituted, seems  to  many  ponderous,  relatively 
unfruitful,  and,  in  fact,  not  properly  correlated 
to  the  present  general  appreciation  of  the 
common  essence  of  the  Christian  religion. 
The  question  is  forcing  itself  more  and  more 
upon  thinking  Christians  :  Is  the  Church  be- 
ing held  back  by  her  own  institutions?  Have 
intelligent  and  vital  Christians  outgrown  the 
machinery  of  Protestantism?  Are  they  in 
need  of  a  simplified  interpretation  of  the 
Church?  Can  the  Protestant  status  quo  be 
satisfactory  to  Christ,  as  representing  that 
glorious  Church,  without  spot,  or  wrinkle  or 


OF  THE  APOSTOLIC   THEOLOGY        135 

any  such  thing,  in  which  and  through  which 
He  can  work  freely  ? 

Assuming  a  reinterpretation  of  the  idea  of 
the  Church,  in  which  the  sectarianism  of  the 
present  shall  be  merged  in  the  interest  of 
the  fundamental  and  universal  elements  of 
the  Christian  religion,  momentous  importance 
attaches  to  the  question :  What  are  those 
fundamental  and  universal  elements  ?  Where 
are  we  to  look  for  them  ?  This  is  the  ques- 
tion which,  perhaps  more  than  any  other, 
has  been  forcing  itself  upon  the  present  age, 
in  view  of  the  change  of  sentiment  regarding 
sectarian  subscription.  If  we  are  moving 
towards  a  common  essence,  what  is  that  com- 
mon essence?  Eminent  students  of  Chris- 
tianity in  various  parts  of  the  world  are 
engaged  in  answering  this  question.  .  To  the 
prevailing  tone  of  recent  attempts  to  define 
the  essence  of  Christianity  I  wish  to  draw  at- 
tention. The  trend  of  contemporary  opinion 
is  very  largely  in  one  direction :  namely,  to 
define  the  essence  of  Christianity  as  consist- 
ing merely  of  the  teachings  and  example  of 
Jesus,  as  recorded  in  the  first  three  Gospels 


136  THE   RECOVERY 

in  distinction  from  that  view  of  the  Person  of 
Christ  as  the  Eternal  Word,  manifesting  the 
Father,  and  the  Work  of  Christ  as  the  suffer- 
ing and  triumphing  Saviour  of  the  world,  as 
set  forth  in  the  Fourth  Gospel  and  in  the 
Apostolic  Epistles. 

This  trend  of  contemporary  opinion  ap- 
pears to  have  been  determined  largely  by 
the  following  considerations : 

First,  The  resistance  of  scholastic  theology 
awakened  by  modern  advances  and  recon- 
structions in  philosophy. 

Secondly,  The  resistance  of  apostolic 
theology  through  identifying  it  with  the 
ponderous  scholastic  systems  built  upon  it. 
This  has  involved  very  largely  the  rejection 
of  the  teachings  of  St.  Paul  regarding  the 
Person  and  Work  of  Christ,  as  teachings 
which  were  produced  by  Greek  and  Jewish 
influences  tending  to  obscure  the  pristine 
simplicity  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  and  His 
ethics. 

Thirdly,  The  growth  of  the  historical 
method  of  Biblical  study  ;  whereby  the  accent 
becomes   more   and   more   concentrated   on 


OF  THE  APOSTOLIC   THEOLOGY         137 

the  narrative  of  the  first  three  Gospels, 
including  the  teachings  and  the  idealistic 
example  of  Jesus  as  constituting  the  essence 
of  the  Christian  religion. 

Concerning  each  of  these  elements  of  con- 
temporary opinion  there  is  a  serious, 
thoughtful  word  to  be  said. 

The  mode»-n  resistance  of  scholastic 
theology  can  cause  no  surprise  to  an  un- 
prejudiced mind.  The  scholastic  theology  in 
certain  particulars  is  disqualified  for  present 
use  by  the  fact  that  its  philosophical  point 
of  view  is  measurably  out  of  relation  with 
the  canons  of  modern  thinking.  Some  of 
its  fundamental  conceptions  have  been  so 
largely  abandoned  by  later  reconstruc- 
tionists  that  to  the  younger  generation  they 
are  almost  unintelligible.  This  implies  no 
religious  change,  but  rather  an  intellectual 
change.  The  human  mind,  if  it  be  normally 
active,  is  ever  advancing  and  reconstructing 
its  philosophical  positions.  The  new  wine 
cannot  adapt  itself  to  the  old  wine  skins.  If 
the  terms  and  formulae  of  scholastic  theology 
be  enforced  without  discrimination  on  dis- 


138  THE   RECOVERY 

ciples  of  newer  schools  of  philosophy  the 
risks  involved  are  serious  :  there  may  occur 
the  rejection  of  truth,  or,  if  the  temper  be 
passive,  a  not  less  grave  calamity,  the 
profession  of  belief  without  reality  of  con- 
viction. But,  while  resistance  of  certain 
aspects  of  theological  scholasticism  is,  in 
principle,  reasonable  and,  in  practice,  in- 
evitable, it  by  no  means  follows  that  the 
present  tendency  to  indiscriminate  rejection 
of  the  older  theologies  is  a  judicious  method 
of  dealing  with  the  situation,  or  one  that 
promises  any  advantage  not  balanced  by 
corresponding  loss.  Alert  thinkers  of  our 
time  are  advising  complete  separation  of 
Christian  theology  from  the  problems  of 
ontology,  and  are  undertaking  to  reduce 
it  to  a  practical  discipline  regulated  by 
the  religious  and  social  ideals  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth.  Before  committing  ourselves  to 
the  attractive  simplicity  of  this  theory  of 
reconstruction  it  is  well  to  reflect  upon 
two  things:  The  scholastic  theology  al- 
though it  may  be  unsatisfactory  to  us,  by 
reason  of  our  intellectual   environment,  un- 


OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  THEOLOGY        I39 

doubtedly  enshrined  truth  which  evolved 
the  vital  and  characteristic  experiences  of  the 
Christian  religion,  and  developed  a  type 
of  intense  piety,  and  an  attitude  of  moral 
obedience  not  produced  in  equal  measure 
by  the  reduced  modern  interpretation  of 
the  essence  of  Christianity.  It  is  perilously 
easy  for  the  modern  indiscriminate  resist- 
ance of  scholastic  theology  to  swing  to  the 
extreme  of  an  anti-theological  scholasticism, 
which,  priding  itself  on  historical  accuracy, 
may  yet  fail  more  conspicuously  than  the 
theologians  of  the  seventeenth  century  to 
represent  the  essence  of  the  Christian 
religion  and  to  furnish  material  for  a 
genuine  Christian  experience.  If,  in  the  at- 
tempt to  shake  off  the  influence  of  Neo- 
platonism,  the  fundamental  doctrines  of 
Biblical  Christianity  are  to  be  discarded, 
the  last  state  of  religion  shall  be  worse  than 
the  first. 

The  modern  search  for  the  essence  of 
Christianity — a  search  most  necessary  in 
itself — has  developed  a  secondary,  and 
momentous,  resultant   of  the  indiscriminate 


I40  THE   RECOVERY 

resistance  of  scholastic  theology.  It  is  the 
resistance  of  the  apostolic  theology,  espe- 
cially the  theology  of  St.  Paul.  The  effects 
of  this  are  already  appearing  in  the  im- 
poverished religious  values  of  the  sermons 
produced  by  the  younger  generation  of 
preachers;  and  the  deplorable  decline  of 
spiritual  life  and  knowledge  in  many 
churches.  Results  open  to  observation 
show  that  the  movement  to  simplify  the 
Christian  essence  by  discarding  the  theology 
of  St.  Paul  easily  carries  the  teaching  of  the 
Christian  pulpit  to  a  position  where,  for 
those  who  submit  to  that  teaching,  the 
characteristic  experiences  of  the  Christian 
life  become  practically  impossible.  The 
Christian  sense  of  sin ;  Christian  penitence 
at  the  foot  of  the  Cross;  Christian  faith 
in  an  Atoning  Saviour ;  Christian  peace 
with  God  though  the  Mediation  of  Jesus 
Christ — these  and  other  experiences,  which 
were  the  very  life  of  apostles  and  of 
apostolic  souls,  fade  from  the  view  of  the 
ministry,  have  no  meaning  for  the  younger 
generation.     After  twenty  centuries  of  power 


OF  THE  APOSTOLIC   THEOLOGY         141 

they  are  minimized  in  the  hfe  of  the 
Church  ;  which,  governed  for  the  time  being 
by  the  radicaHsm  of  its  teachers,  substitutes 
for  the  real  essence  of  the  Christian  religion, 
essentially  spiritual  and  metaphysical,  a 
practical  obedience  to  the  ethical  teachings 
of  Jesus.  This,  however  necessary  in  itself, 
by  no  means  represents  the  fullness  and 
distinctiveness  of  the  Revelation  of  God  in 
Christ. 

A  remark  must  also  be  made  concerning 
the  present  tendency  to  set  the  whole  accent 
of  Biblical  study  upon  the  historical,  as 
contrasted  with  the  metaphysical,  view  of 
Christ.  The  admirable  zeal  manifested  in 
the  study  of  the  life  of  Christ  is  in  a  meas- 
ure offset  by  the  tendency  to  separate  the 
example  and  teachings  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
from  the  Christ  crucified  and  risen,  the 
Christ  of  the  apostolic  consciousness  and 
of  the  consecutive  Christian  experience  of 
the  world.  With  such  significant  dis- 
crimination are  we  now  being  pointed  to 
the  historical  Christ  as  distinguished  from 
the    metaphysical    and    theological    Christ, 


142  THE   RECOVERY 

that,  for  the  time  being,  the  historical 
method  is  in  danger  of  becoming  unhis- 
torical,  and  the  teacher  who  seeks  to  repre- 
sent the  Jesus  of  history  may  easily  mis- 
represent and  conceal  the  Redeemer  of  the 
world. 

It  is  not  at  all  extraordinary  that  these 
temporary  faults  of  proportion  should  occur 
at  the  present  stage  in  the  evolution  of  re- 
ligious thinking.  A  very  great  reaction  to- 
wards the  historical  and  the  actual  was  called 
for  in  the  premises,  to  offset  the  deadening 
unreality  of  theological  systems  that  were 
excessively  metaphysical  and  speculative. 
In  every  great  reaction  there  is  the  probabil- 
ity of  over-accentuation.  Our  obligations  to 
the  reactionary  elements  in  modern  religious 
thinking  are  very  large.  Through  the  vig- 
orous agency  of  these  reactionary  elements 
a  demonstration  has  been  made  of  those 
particulars  wherein  the  scholastic  theology 
was  unsatisfactory,  deficient,  unreal.  Through 
the  same  reactionary  elements  the  Apostolic 
Age  has  been  illuminated  with  reality ;  the 
philosophical  influences  bearing  upon  it  have 


OF  THE  APOSTOLIC   THEOLOGY         I43 

been  plainly  shown  (not  always,  it  must  be 
added,  in  a  manner  wholly  free  from  preju- 
dice). Especially  are  we  indebted  to  the 
modern  historical  reaction  for  the  recovery  of 
the  human  verisimilitude  of  Jesus.  He,  who 
had  become  but  a  theological  name  in  the 
scholastic  systems,  who  had  been  buried  and 
hidden  in  the  sepulchre  of  orthodoxy,  has 
had  a  glorious  resurrection  into  the  world  of 
reality.  Once  again  He  walks  among  His 
brethren  in  the  lovely  and  desirable  incidents 
of  daily  life ;  His  voice  is  heard  ;  the  touch 
of  His  hand  is  felt ;  the  perfection  of  His 
conduct  is  realized.  It  is  impossible  to  over- 
estimate the  advantages  accruing  from  this 
extrication  of  the  historic  Jesus  from  the 
mist- veils  of  theological  impersonality.  But, 
at  this  moment,  we  are  experiencing  the  in- 
cidental disadvantage  of  beneficent  reaction. 
As,  formerly,  the  metaphysical  forced  aside 
the  historical  and  developed  the  excesses  of 
speculative  orthodoxy,  so,  now,  the  historical, 
focussing  its  light  upon  the  narrative,  throws 
into  shadow  the  Christ  of  the  apostolic  con- 
sciousness, the  mysteries  of  His  Person,  the 


144  THE   RECOVERY 

majesty  of  His  Work,  the  metaphysic  of 
Christian  experience,  and  leaves  us  only 
Jesus  of  Nazareth,  His  life-purpose,  example, 
and  words.  This,  we  are  told,  is  the  essence 
of  Christianity ;  this,  and  this  only,  must  be 
the  organizing  principle  of  that  new  reinter- 
pretation  of  the  idea  of  the  Church  for  which 
many,  dissatisfied  with  the  Protestant  status 
quo,  are  anxiously  looking.  But,  so  far  from 
the  general  consciousness  of  the  devout 
Church  accepting  this  reactionary  dictum,  the 
unsatisfactoriness  of  the  present  teaching, 
which  leaves  us  only  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  is 
becoming  more  apparent  from  day  to  day. 
It  is  not  a  large  enough  teaching  to  take  the 
place  of  the  majestic  conceptions  of  the 
scholastic  theology,  much  less  to  be  substi- 
tuted for  the  theological  outlook  of  St.  Paul. 
We  may  dissent  from  many  things  urged  by 
the  divines  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries,  nevertheless  they  saw  things  on  a 
grand  scale.  The  Christianity  they  taught 
was  one  that  could  fill  the  horizon  of  an  intel- 
lectual age  and  could  inspire  the  awe-stricken 
devotion  of  souls  like  Milton,  and  Zinzendorf, 


OF  THE  APOSTOLIC   THEOLOGY         145 

and  Doddridge  and  Toplady  and  the  Wes- 
leys.  The  historical  reaction  from  metaphys- 
ical conceptions  of  Christ  leaves  us  indeed 
an  admirable  practical  discipline,  but  it  cuts 
the  wings  of  the  soul  and  reduces  the  scale 
and  measure  of  its  thinking.  It  cannot  meet 
the  craving  of  the  human  spirit,  which  knows 
but  too  well  those  hours  when  the  metaphys- 
ical is  the  only  outlet  to  the  pent-up  sense  of 
infinity.  It  cannot  produce  the  type  of  char- 
acter which  has  been  the  glory  of  every 
Christian  age,  character  steeped  in  meta- 
physical conceptions  of  God  in  Christ,  of 
Christ  in  the  soul  of  man,  of  man  absolved 
by  the  sacrificial  love,  transfigured  by  the  re- 
generating grace  of  the  Incarnate  God.  It 
cannot  grapple  with  the  problems  of  the 
Christianization  of  the  world,  in  lands  where 
the  historical  counts  for  little,  and  where  he 
only  has  power  who  bears  the  message  of 
life  in  the  terms  of  its  philosophical  equiva- 
lents. 

The  over-accentuation  of  the  historical  is 
but  a  step  towards  a  larger  readjustment. 
Everywhere  are  signs  of  a  richer,  more  com- 


146  THE   RECOVERY 

prehensive  thought-movement.  We  may 
call  it  a  movement  for  the  recovery  of  the 
apostolic  theology.  There  are  two  points 
of  view  from  which  to  regard  this  movement 
towards  a  recovery  of  the  essence  of  the 
Christian  religion.  It  may  be  regarded  as 
an  escape  from  the  burdensome  and  complex 
elements  of  scholastic  theology,  to  the  evan- 
gelical simplicity  and  tenderness  that  are  in 
Christ.  Or  it  may  be  looked  upon  as  an 
advance  from  the  present  limited  view  of 
Jesus  as  a  mere  teacher  and  a  mere  personal 
and  social  ideal,  to  that  apostolic  view,  which, 
in  every  age,  has  conditioned  Christian  ex- 
perience :  the  view  of  Christ  as  the  Image  of 
the  invisible  God  and  the  Author  of  an  eter- 
nal salvation. 

Upon  this  ground  it  is  possible  for  the  next 
great  reinterpretation  of  the  idea  of  the  Church 
to  be  made.  It  is  not  the  invention  of  a  new 
standard  of  orthodoxy.  It  is  the  recovery  of 
the  earliest  ground  of  faith.  It  is  not  the 
new  cry  **  Back  to  Christ,"  in  the  sense  of 
casting  aside  the  apostolic  Christology.  It 
is   a   return   to  Christ  in  the  spirit  of  that 


OF  THE  APOSTOLIC   THEOLOGY         147 

beloved  disciple,  who,  beholding  the  glory 
of  the  Crucified  and  Risen  One,  fell  at  His 
feet  in  the  adoration  of  faith,  and  heard  the 
voice  that  pronounced  the  eternal  charter  of 
Christian  faith  and  Christian  experience :  *'  I 
am  the  Living  One :  and  I  was  dead,  and 
behold  I  am  alive  forevermore.  Amen ;  and 
have  the  keys  of  hell  and  of  death." 

The  Christology  of  the  apostles  has  within 
it,  like  Him  of  whom  it  testifies,  '*  the  power 
of  an  endless  life."  In  our  weakness  and  love 
of  controversy,  we  may  for  a  time  confuse 
that  Christology,  may  overlay  it  with  our 
own  scholasticisms  and  may  turn  from  it  in 
a  weariness  for  which  we  ourselves  are  re- 
sponsible. But  we  turn  from  it  only  to  turn 
back  to  it.  We  lose  the  meaning  of  the 
apostolic  Christology  for  a  season,  only  to 
find  it  again,  glorified  an  hundredfold  in 
honour  and  vitality.  The  apostles,  like  their 
Master,  may  be  despised  and  rejected  of  men 
for  a  time ;  but,  like  Him,  they  rise  again, 
leading  captivity  captive,  giving  gifts  unto 
men.  The  effort  to  set  the  apostolic  the- 
ology aside  only  results  in  an  inevitable  and 


148  THE   RECOVERY 

impressive  demonstration  of  its  necessary  re- 
lation to  Christianity.  In  his  splendid  essay 
*'  On  Some  of  the  Difficulties  in  the  Writings 
of  the  Aposde  Paul,"  Richard  Whately  em- 
bodies a  thought  with  which  I  may  fitly  close 
this  lecture  on  The  Recovery  of  the  Apostolic 
Theology:  ''Next,  after  an  able  and  full  and 
interesting  vindication  and  explanation  of 
Paul's  writings,  the  sort  of  work  whose  ap- 
pearance ought  most  to  be  hailed,  is  a  plau- 
sible attack  on  them.  Paul's  labours  can  never 
be  effectually  frustrated  except  by  being  kept 
out  of  sight.  Whatever  brings  him  into 
notice  will,  ultimately,  bring  him  into  tri- 
umph. All  the  malignity  and  the  sophistries 
of  his  adversaries  will  not  only  assail  him  in 
vain,  but  will  lead  in  the  end  to  the  perfecting 
of  his  glory  and  the  extension  of  his  gospel. 
They  may  scourge  him  uncondemned,  like 
the  Roman  magistrate  at  Philippi ;  they  may 
inflict  on  him  the  lashes  of  calumnious  cer 
sure  ; — but  they  cannot  silence  him  ;  they 
may  thrust  him,  as  it  were,  into  a  dungeon, 
and  fetter  him  with  their  strained  interpreta- 
tions ;  but  his  voice  will  be  raised  even  at 


OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  THEOLOGY         149 

the  midnight  of  unchristian  darkness,  and 
will  be  heard  effectually;  his  prison  doors 
will  burst  open  as  with  an  earthquake,  and 
the  fetters  will  fall  from  his  hands ;  and  even 
strangers  co  gospel  truth  will  fall  down  at 
the  feet  of  him,  even  Paul,  to  make  that 
momentous  inquiry,  '  What  must  I  do  to  be 
saved?'" 


LECTURE  IV 
THE  SAVIOUR  OF  THE  WORLD 


LECTURE  IV 
THE  SAVIOUR  OF  THE  WORLD 

IN  this  course  of  Lectures,  I  am  attempt- 
ing to  present  an  argument  in  favour  of 
a  reinterpretation  of  the  idea  of  the 
Church  upon  more  simple  and  homogeneous 
lines,  to  the  end  that  the  Church  may  more 
effectively  accomplish  the  work  entrusted  to 
her  by  Jesus  Christ.  The  basis  for  such  a 
reinterpretation  I  conceive  to  be  the  univer- 
sal elements  of  the  Christian  religion.  That 
the  perspective  of  this  argument  may  appear, 
it  is  necessary  to  review,  with  some  care,  our 
path  of  thought. 

In  the  first  Lecture  we  considered  what  the 
work  is  that  Christ  had  entrusted  to  His 
Church.  It  is  the  Christianization  of  the 
world.  This  means  something  more  great 
and  more  simple  than  the  endeavour  of  West- 
ern sects  to  reproduce  themselves  in  the  East. 
It  means  more  than  interdenominational 
comity,  which  is  in  itself  a  desirable  substi- 
153 


154       THE   SAVIOUR  OF  THE  WORLD 

tute  for  missionary  competition.  It  means 
more  than  the  partitioning  of  the  East  into 
denominational  spheres  of  influence,  after  the 
example  of  the  powers  of  Europe  in  China 
and  Africa.  This  is  not  the  Christianization 
of  the  world,  but  rather  the  occupation  of  the 
East  by  religious  organizations  of  the  West, 
as  a  temporary  measure,  preliminary  to  the 
Christianization  of  the  world.  To  Christian- 
ize the  world  is  a  proposition  that  challenges 
us  to  measure  up  to  the  cosmopolitanism  of 
Jesus  Christ,  for  whom  there  were  no  sects, 
no  ecclesiastical  polities,  no  dogmatic  sys- 
tems. Christ  recognized  only  a  world  to  be 
brought  to  Himself ;  and  Himself,  the  Living 
Truth,  to  be  given  to  that  world,  which  is 
groaning  and  travailing ;  wandering  and 
groping;  searching  and,  in  a  million  idol- 
temples,  praying  for  the  knowledge  of  God. 
Of  Himself  He  said  :  "  I  am  the  Light  of  the 
world."  To  His  Church  He  said  :  "Ye  shall 
be  My  witnesses,  unto  the  uttermost  part  of 
the  earth."  When  we  venture  to  adopt  the 
point  of  view  of  Christ  we  perceive  that  the 
Christianization  of  the  East,  which  is  the  pres- 


THE  SAVIOUR  OF  THE  WORLD        155 

ent  task  of  the  Church,  is  something  far  more 
profound  than  the  substitution  of  one  creed 
or  one  set  of  religious  practices  for  another ; 
something  far  more  delicate  than  the  obliter- 
ation of  heathen  ideas  and  the  transcription 
in  their  place  of  a  Western  theological  sys- 
tem. It  means  the  lifting  up  of  the  bruised 
reed  of  the  Oriental  spirit,  bowed  beneath  the 
overlay  of  centuries  of  pessimism  and  despair. 
It  means  the  breathing  upon  the  smoking 
flax  of  Oriental  hope,  smouldering  in  the 
heavy  atmosphere  of  pantheism.  It  means 
the  interpretation  and  consummation  of  the 
yearnings  of  non-Christian  faiths  through  the 
absolute  Revelation  of  God  in  the  Person  of 
Jesus  Christ.  It  means  the  ultimate  develop- 
ment of  an  Oriental  type  of  Christianity, 
wherein  the  universal  elements  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion  shall  localize  themselves  in  terms 
of  thought  and  modes  of  practice  adapted  to 
the  Eastern  conception  of  life.  It  means,  in 
the  last  analysis,  a  more  complete  and  full- 
orbed  interpretation  of  Christianity  for  the 
world,  when  the  East,  conquered  by  the  suf- 
fering and  reigning  Saviour,  shall  supplement 


156        THE   SAVIOUR   OF   THE   WORLD 

and  fulfill  the  West  by  contributing  aspects 
of  Christian  truth  as  seen  from  the  Eastern 
point  of  view  and  mediated  through  Eastern 
religious  experience. 

Having  before  us  this  definition  of  the 
Christianization  of  the  world,  as  the  work  en- 
trusted to  the  Church  by  Jesus  Christ,  we 
proceeded,  in  the  second  Lecture,  to  inquire 
into  the  bearing  upon  this  great  object  of 
attainment,  of  those  sectarian  movements 
which,  born  of  forces  liberated  by  the  Refor- 
mation, have  for  centuries  formed  the  recog- 
nized and,  apparently,  necessary,  condition 
of  the  Protestant  status  quo.  Assuming,  at 
the  outset,  that  the  idea  of  the  Church  existed 
perfectly  in  the  mind  of  Christ  only,  and  that 
its  history  since  His  Ascension  has  been  a 
series  of  reinterpretations  of  the  idea,  more 
or  less  limited  by  human  infirmity,  we  con- 
sidered that  remarkable  outburst  of  sectarian 
movements  which  occurred  at  and  after  the 
Reformation.  It  was  a  reinterpretation  of 
the  idea  of  the  Church  on  lines  of  diversity 
and  individualism  perfectly  in  correspondence 
with  the  intellectual  activity  and  democratic 


THE  SAVIOUR   OF  THE  WORLD        157 

self-realization  that  were  produced  by  the  re- 
vival of  learning,  and  that  made  the  revolt 
from  Catholic  authority  inevitable.  It  is  im- 
possible to  overestimate  the  advantage  ac- 
cruing to  vital  Christianity  from  those  sectarian 
movements.  Narrow  as  was  the  basis  on 
which  some  of  them  stood  ;  secondary  or  fan- 
ciful as  were  the  contentions  supposed  to  jus- 
tify the  existence  of  some  of  them  ;  darkened 
and  stained  as  were  their  annals  by  bigotry, 
zeal  without  knowledge,  and  cruelty,  they 
achieved  the  moral  and  intellectual  salvation 
of  the  West.  Greater  than  their  defects  were 
their  excellences  and  sublimities.  Sincerity, 
conviction,  the  vision  of  God  in  Christ,  sanc- 
tified them.  They  produced  the  successors 
of  prophets  and  apostles,  who  counted  not 
their  lives  dear  unto  themselves ;  of  whom 
the  world  was  not  worthy.  It  is  impossible  to 
conceive  any  other  instrument  by  which  the 
Christian  consciousness  could  have  been 
emancipated  from  mediaevalism,  and  rein- 
stated in  the  glorious  liberty  of  sonship.  By 
the  liberalization  of  religious  thinking,  by  the 
distribution  of  authority,  by  the  counteraction 


158       THE  SAVIOUR   OF  THE  WORLD 

of  erroneous  accent  on  particular  beliefs,  by 
the  humanizing  of  Christianity  and  its  res- 
toration to  the  hands  of  the  common  people, 
and  by  indirect  testimony  to  the  universal 
scope  of  the  Christian  essence,  the  post-Refor- 
mation sectarian  movements  dispersed  a  slug- 
gish atmosphere  that  had  gathered  about  the 
Church,  turned  again  the  captivity  of  the 
spiritual  Zion,  accelerated  the  coming  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God. 

But,  with  the  passage  of  time,  new  condi- 
tions emerge,  new  questions  arise.  Those 
forms  of  activity,  most  beneficent  in  the  period 
immediately  following  the  rupture  with  Cath- 
olic authority,  may  not  be  competent  to  deal 
with  the  situation  created  by  the  critical  move- 
ment, the  philosophical  reconstruction,  the 
new  psychology,  the  new  conception  of  mis- 
sionary policy.  Cromwellian  equipment  and 
Cromwellian  tactics  were  ample  at  Marston 
Moor,  but  would  be  inadequate  at  Mukden. 
It  is  profoundly  difficult  to  realize  the  provi- 
sional nature  of  familiar  institutions;  more 
especially  institutions  with  which  our  lives 
have    become    incorporated    by    inheritance. 


THE  SAVIOUR   OF  THE  WORLD        1 59 

Nothing  is  more  perplexing  than  to  bring 
home  to  ourselves  the  law  of  transition : 

Our  little  systems  have  their  day, 

They  have  their  day,  and  cease  to  be; 
They  are  but  broken  lights  of  Thee, 

And  Thou,  O  Lord,  art  more  than  they. 

Nevertheless,  the  limitations  and  practical 
inadequacy  of  sectarian  movements  and  the 
unsatisfactoriness  of  the  Protestant  status 
quo  are  being  felt  more  and  more  seriously 
by  many  intelligent  Christians,  who  are 
longing  for  a  simple  reinterpretation  of  the 
idea  of  the  Church,  answering  to  the 
simplified  conception  of  vital  Christianity. 
To  many  of  these  minds,  such  a  reinterpreta- 
tion seems  not  impossible,  perhaps  not 
improbable.  Many  feel  that  such  a  rein- 
terpretation is  necessary,  and  that  until 
it  comes  the  life  of  the  Church  cannot  be 
sufficiently  stimulated  and  unified,  suffi- 
ciently liberated  from  secondary  considera- 
tions, to  enable  it  to  complete  the  sacred 
task  delivered  to  it  by  the  Lord  :  the  Chris- 
tianization  of  the  world. 

In   the  third  Lecture  I  undertook  to  ex- 


l6o       THE   SAVIOUR   OF   THE  WORLD 

amine  the  nature  and  content  of  this 
wide-spread  and  relatively  unorganized 
longing  for  a  more  satisfactory  state  of 
the  Church :  What  is  it  that  is  wanted 
and  hoped  for?  Negatively  we  found  that 
it  is  not  a  desire  for  some  new  form  of 
ecclesiastical  uniformity ;  or  for  the  creation 
of  a  new  standard  of  orthodoxy.  In  dis- 
tinction from  these  institutional  and  official 
methods  of  reorganization  the  present 
sentiment  moves  away  from  institutional- 
ism  and  considers  life  and  truth  mediated 
through  experience  to  be  the  basis  of  a 
simplified  Church.  It  perceives  that  the 
common  reason  and  faith  of  the  Christian 
society  recognize  certain  universal  and 
permanent  elements  as  constituting  the 
essence  of  Christianity,  and  that  these 
elements,  the  objects  of  common  recognition, 
are  the  natural  basis,  and  possibly  the 
sufficient  basis,  for  that  more  homogeneous, 
simple  and  spiritual  Church  which  shall 
efTect  the  Christianization  of  the  world. 
With  this  thought  gaining  control  of  many 
minds  that  once  were  interested  in  maintain- 


THE   SAVIOUR   OF   THE   WORLD        l6l 

ing  denominational  distinctions  and  now 
are  wholly  indifferent  thereto,  it  becomes 
apparent  that  great  importance  attaches  to 
the  content  of  the  alleged  essence  of  the 
Christian  religion.  I  pointed  out  that  this 
question  is  at  the  front  of  religious  thinking 
and  that  the  prevailing  answer  of  contem- 
porary scholarship  defines  the  essence  of 
Christianity  as  consisting  of  the  teachings 
and  example  of  Jesus  as  recorded  in  the 
first  three  Gospels,  rather  than  that  view 
of  the  Person  of  Christ  as  the  Image  of 
the  invisible  God,  and  the  Work  of  Christ 
as  the  suffering  and  triumphing  Saviour  of 
the  world,  which  is  set  forth  in  the  Fourth 
Gospel  and  the  Apostolic  Epistles.  I  ac- 
knowledged our  great  debt  to  scientific 
scholarship  for  exhibiting  the  inadequacy 
of  certain  features  of  the  scholastic  theology, 
for  calling  attention  to  the  philosophical 
influences  that  touched  the  lives  of  the 
apostles  and  were  reflected  in  their  teach- 
ings ;  and  for  restoring  to  us  the  price- 
less verisimilitude  of  the  historic  Jesus  of 
Nazareth.     But,  with  all  gratitude  for  these 


l62        THE   SAVIOUR   OF   THE   WORLD 

great  gains,  I  expressed  with  earnestness  my 
conviction  that  these  considerations,  how- 
ever valuable,  are  inadequate  as  the  basis 
for  a  reinterpretation  of  the  idea  of  the 
Church  that  can  satisfy  the  religious  con- 
sciousness of  the  present  time.  It  is  not  a 
large  enough  teaching.  It  does  not  meet 
the  measure  of  the  soul's  horizon  nor 
answer  its  unbidden  yearning  for  such 
direct  communion  with  Christ,  in  the 
sanctuary  of  the  metaphysical  consciousness 
as,  apparently,  was  the  very  life  of  St.  Paul 
and  his  contemporaries.  It  does  not  tend 
to  produce  that  characteristic  type  of  per- 
sonality, which,  historically,  connotes  the 
Christian  who  is  living  in  Christ's  presence 
and  is  fortified  by  the  grace  which  is  Christ's 
perpetual  gift.  It  cannot  grapple  with  the 
problem  of  the  Christianization  of  the  world 
which  is,  essentially  a  problem  of  metaphys- 
ical experience  rather  than  of  historical 
knowledge,  and  one  that  involves  principles 
of  thought  and  action  that  are  cosmopolitan 
and  comprehensive  rather  than  local  and 
factional,    that   sets   the    temperament   of   a 


THE  SAVIOUR   OF   THE   WORLD        163 

race  above  the  dictum  of  a  school.  Beneath 
the  conspicuous  modern  tendency  to  define 
the  irreducible  minimum  of  Christian  truth 
as  the  Christ  of  the  Synoptists  and  the 
ethical  code  of  Jesus,  there  runs  a  deeper 
tide  of  tendency  which  represents  the  pro- 
gress of  contemporary  thought  that  has 
neither  been  satisfied  with  the  Protestant 
status  qtw  nor  willing  to  cast  in  its  lot  with 
a  radicalism  which,  in  abjuring  the  scholastic 
theology  declares  also  its  independence  of 
apostolic  Christianity.  That  profounder 
thought  movement,  which  has  not  yet  been 
fully  formulated,  which  has  not  yet  had 
time  to  show  how  the  critical  movement 
makes  for  a  richer  faith,  I  have  described  as 
the  recovery  of  the  apostolic  theology.  It 
is,  on  the  one  hand,  an  escape  from  the 
burdensome  and  complex  elements  of  the 
scholastic  theology  to  the  evangelical 
tenderness  and  simplicity  that  are  in  Christ. 
It  is,  on  the  other  hand,  an  advance  from 
the  present  limited  view  of  many  scientific 
theologians,  wherein  Jesus  is  a  mere  teacher 
and    a   mere   personal   and  social  ideal,  to 


l64       THE   SAVIOUR   OF   THE   WORLD 

that  apostolic  view,  which,  in  every  age, 
has  conditioned  Christian  experience,  of 
Christ  as  the  Image  of  the  invisible  God, 
the  Author  of  an  eternal  salvation.  We 
have  now  reviewed  our  path  of  thought  up 
to  the  present  stage  of  the  argument.  By 
this  review  we  place  in  right  perspective 
the  theme  and  purpose  of  this  Lecture.  The 
central  figure  in  the  field  of  apostolic  the- 
ology is  the  Figure  of  Christ  crucified  and 
risen,  the  Saviour  of  the  World.  Our  present 
inquiry  is  conducted  with  a  view  to  ascer- 
tain to  what  extent  that  central  thought — ■ 
the  Saviour  of  the  World — offers  a  basis  for 
those  who  are  yearning  for  a  fresh  rein- 
terpretation  of  the  idea  of  the  Church  on 
grander  and  simpler  lines.  Does  it  carry 
with  it  the  promJse,  not  to  say  the  reasonable 
assurance,  that  upon  this  basis  the  Church 
may  at  last  fulfill  the  task  committed  to  her 
by  her  Head ;  having  recovered  in  its  original 
power  and  simplicity  that  vision  of  Christ 
which,  as  a  matter  of  plain,  historic  fact> 
was  the  foundation  of  the  Church  and  the 
making  of  Christianity?     Shall  the  Church, 


THE   SAVIOUR   OF   THE   WORLD        165 

by  recovering  in  apostolic  distinctness  that 
radiant  vision,  recover  also  the  homogeneous 
dignity,  the  power,  faith,  love  and  evangel- 
ical success  that  were  the  glory  of  the  first 
days? 

The  dynamic  of  the  Apostolic  Church  was 
its  Christology :  not  merely  its  faith  in 
Christ  but  its  faith  concernmg  Christ.  The 
buoyancy  and  success  of  apostolic  effort 
sprang  not  chiefly  from  an  historical  rem- 
iniscence of  the  life  and  words  of  Jesus 
but  from  a  fixed  interpretation  of  His  Per- 
son, which  was  nothing  if  not  metaphysical. 
Christ  was,  in  the  apostolic  consciousness, 
an  Only  Begotten  from  a  Father,  existent  be- 
fore all  worlds,  incarnated  in  the  fullness 
of  time,  His  Incarnation  culminating  in  His 
Atoning  Death,  His  Resurrection,  His  Ascen- 
sion and  Enthronement  as  the  Saviour  of  the 
World.  From  every  point  of  view  it  is 
evident  that  the  Apostolic  Age  owed  its 
extraordinary  religious  efTectiveness  to  its 
Christology.  The  enthralling  glory  of 
Christ  seemed  to  swallow  up  the  individ- 
uality of   His    first  ambassadors.     The  pas- 


1 66       THE   SAVIOUR   OF  THE   WORLD 

sion  of  Orientalism  glows  in  St.  Paul's 
self-absorption  in  the  metaphysical  Christ. 
**For  me  to  live  is  Christ"^ —  "I  live,  yet 
not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me."  ^  To  be  one 
with  Him  in  His  Incarnation  ;  to  be  merged 
in  its  consummations  of  death  and  life  — 
crucified  with  Him,  risen  with  Him — this 
was  the  personal  ambition  of  the  most 
illustrious  and  most  successful  of  His 
ministers.  Love  and  fiery  devotion  could 
go  no  farther.  It  adds  not  a  little  to  the 
gravity  and  perplexity  of  our  present 
situation  that  so  much  excellent  modern 
thinking  is  devoted  to  the  effort  to  re- 
cover the  apostolic  zeal  for  Christ  while 
rejecting  the  cause  which  produced  it — 
namely,  the  apostolic  Christology.  Never 
perhaps  since  the  age  of  St.  Paul  was  there 
more  unanimity  in  ascribing  a  central  posi- 
tion to  Christ.  The  name  of  Christ  is  on 
every  lip.  Interest  in  His  words.  His 
deeds.  His  historical  environment,  His 
social  philosophy.  His  practical  ethics  is 
unprecedented.     None  can  be  found  to  dis- 

jPhil.  i:  21.  2  Gal.  2:  20. 


THE  SAVIOUR   OF  THE  WORLD        167 

pute  His  supremacy  as  an  example.  Far 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  Christian  society, 
His  admirers  and  friends  throng.  Hindu- 
ism respects  Him ;  Mohammedanism  and 
Judaism  claim  Him  as  their  own.  One  is 
thankful  for  every  step  in  the  progressive 
recovery  of  the  verisimilitude  of  Jesus. 
Such  was  the  beauty  of  His  conduct,  such 
the  purity  of  His  character,  such  the 
emancipation  of  His  mind  from  prejudice, 
He  needs  but  to  be  known,  to  be  loved 
by  the  universal  heart.  Nevertheless  one 
cannot  but  ask:  What  shall  be  the  out- 
come of  a  theological  reconstruction  that 
would  separate  Jesus  from  the  apostolic 
Christology ;  minimizing  what  the  apostles 
magnified,  namely  His  metaphysical  Son- 
ship  in  the  Godhead,  His  Atoning  Sacrifice 
on  the  Cross,  His  Resurrection  and  Enthrone- 
ment, and  undertaking  to  supply  dynamic 
for  the  Christianization  of  the  w^orld  from  the 
sparsely  reported  annals  of  a  three  years' 
ministry,  which,  upon  His  ow^n  showing, 
was  but  the  limited  and  sorrowing  prelude 
to  His  larger  work  as  the  crucified  and  risen 


1 68       THE   SAVIOUR  OF  THE  WORLD 

Saviour  of  the  World.  It  is,  perhaps,  too 
soon  to  pronounce  upon  the  outcome  of 
a  theological  reconstruction  founded  solely 
on  the  biographical  data  of  the  Son  of  Mary, 
but  it  is  not  too  soon  to  point  out  its  com- 
plete divergence  from  the  apostolic  point  of 
view  and  its  necessary  tendency  to  produce 
a  type  of  religious  experience  from  which 
some  of  the  primary  elements  of  the  Chris- 
tian consciousness  are,  in  the  nature  of  the 
case,  excluded. 

When  we  have  affirmed  that  the  dynamic 
of  the  Apostolic  Church  was  its  Christology, 
its  faith  concerning  Christ,  we  have  but 
opened  the  way  for  a  more  thorough  inquiry 
into  the  source  of  that  power  which,  ob- 
viously, issued  from  the  Pauline  conception 
of  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  I  have  sought 
earnestly  to  find  the  secret  of  the  power  of 
that  idea,  as  it  became  the  burden  of  the 
first  preachers  and  the  inspiration  of  those 
who  came  under  their  preaching.  Evidently 
there  was  extraordinary  power  in  the  idea 
of  Christ  as  the  Saviour  of  the  World.  The 
name   of   Christ   was   no  fetich  on  the  lips 


THE  SAVIOUR   OF   THE  WORLD        169 

of  the  apostles,  nor  was  it  but  a  spur  to  the 
imagination,  as  suggesting  memories  of  a 
beautiful  and  efficient  career.  It  carried 
with  it  an  appeal  to  reason  and  to  con- 
science, and  that  appeal  inhered  not  in  the 
fact  of  the  Incarnation  merely,  but,  specif- 
ically, the  Incarnation  extending  itself  and 
consummating  itself  in  the  Sacrifice.  *'We 
preach,"  he  said,  '*  Christ  crucified,  to  the 
Jews  a  stumbling-block  and  the  Greeks 
foolishness,  but  to  them  that  believe,  Christ 
the  wisdom  of  God  and  the  power  of  God 
unto  salvation."  ^ 

I  am  sure  that  the  secret  spring  of  that 
vast  dynamic — the  Saviour  of  the  World — 
was  the  Resurrection  of  Christ  as  the  con- 
summation of  His  Incarnate  Sacrifice,  rather 
than  distinctively  and  separately  the  Act  of 
Death.  I  do  not  forget  the  utterances  of 
St.  Paul  that  disclose  his  self-absorption  in 
the  mystery  of  Calvary.  "  I  determined  to 
know  nothing  among  you,  save  Jesus  Christ 
and  Him  crucified."'  ''God  forbid  that  I 
should  glory,  save  in  the  Cross  of  our  Lord 

1  I  Cor.  I  ;  23,  24.  2  I  Cor.  2  :  2. 


lyo       THE  SAVIOUR   OF  THE   WORLD 

Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  the  world  is  crucified 
unto  me  and  I  unto  the  world."  ^  "  I  am 
crucified  with  Christ."  ^  The  meaning  of 
these  and  other  like  expressions  is  too  ob- 
vious to  be  disputed.  St.  Paul's  crown- 
ing interest  in  the  fact  of  Christ  lay,  not 
in  the  annals  of  the  three  years,  but  in  the 
Event  upon  which  those  years  converged 
and  in  which  the  supreme  utterance  of 
eternal  justice  and  holy  love  was  madcc 
Yet  in  these  utterances  touching  the  Death 
of  Christ  we  do  not  reach  the  final  fact  in 
St.  Paul's  religious  consciousness.  Back  of 
them  lies  one  fact  yet  more  primal,  on  which 
his  estimate  of  the  Death  rests ;  from  which 
it  receives  force  and  buoyancy  and  moral 
significance.  That  ultimate  fact  is  the 
Resurrection  :  the  Dead  of  whom  he  speaks 
is  already  and  eternally  the  Living  One. 
But  for  this  the  meaning  of  the  Death  were 
gone.  It  is  most  striking  to  observe  how, 
in  his  Corinthian  deliverance  on  resurrection 
from  the  dead,  his  mind  pours  itself  into  the 
channel    of    hypothesis,  and    pourtrays  the 

^  Gal.  6 :  14.  '-^  Gal.  2 :  20. 


THE   SAVIOUR   OF   THE   WORLD        lyi 

desolation  that  enfolds  the  Incarnation,  the 
Cross  and  Christianity  alike,  ''  if  Christ  be 
not  risen."  As  if  to  exhaust  the  category  of 
negation  he  traces  the  fivefold  catastrophe 
of  an  incarnation  consummated  in  a  death 
uncrowned  by  resurrection :  The  vanity 
of  preaching :  '*  If  Christ  be  not  risen  our 
preaching  is  vain";  The  emptiness  of  be- 
lief :  *'  If  Christ  be  not  risen  your  faith  is 
also  vain "  ;  The  falsehood  of  testimony : 
"  If  Christ  be  not  risen  we  are  found  false 
witnesses  of  God  "  ;  The  failure  of  redemp- 
tion :  **  If  Christ  be  not  risen  ye  are  yet  in 
your  sins"  ;  The  collapse  of  hope  :  "  If  Christ 
be  not  risen,  then  they  also  that  are  fallen 
asleep  in  Christ  are  perished."  ^ 

As  one  reflects  on  these  characteristic 
notes  of  the  apostolic  ministry,  wherein  the 
Death  and  Resurrection  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
were  magnified,  one  realizes  the  wide  di- 
vergence from  the  primary  grounds  of  Chris- 
tian witness-bearing  represented  by  the 
modern  effort  to  detach  essential  Christianity 
from    the   Fourth   Gospel   and   the   Pauline 

Cf.  I  Cor.  15  :  14-20. 


172       THE   SAVIOUR   OF  THE   WORLD 

Epistles  and  to  confine  it  within  the  synop- 
tical narratives.  The  purpose  of  this  effort  is 
frankly  avowed.  It  is  to  disburden  what  is 
described  as  the  essence  of  Christianity  of 
the  philosophical  i7npedimenta  contained  in 
the  apostolic  interpretations  of  the  Christian 
religion.  It  is  to  hold  stricdy  to  the  lines  of 
the  narrative  and  to  resist  the  overlay  of 
metaphysical  implications  heaped  upon  the 
simple  story  of  the  Synoptists  by  those,  who, 
coming  afterwards,  built  a  theology  upon 
what  was,  and  was  meant  to  be,  only  a  beau- 
tiful Life  that  went  about  doing  good.  As 
this  movement  for  a  simplified  Christianity 
gains  ground,  it  increasingly  accentuates  the 
ethical  values  of  the  life  and  teachings  of  our 
Lord,  and  grows  increasingly  silent  concern- 
ing the  significance  of  His  Death  and  His 
Resurrection.  In  other  words  it  minimizes 
what  the  apostles  magnified,  and  magnifies 
as  the  chief  message  of  the  Incarnation  what 
they,  apparently,  regarded  as  preliminary  to 
the  chief  message,  which  was  the  message  of 
the  Cross  and  of  the  Risen  Life.  It  is  a  very 
striking  fact  that  a  strongly  defined  tendency 


THE   SAVIOUR   OI<    THE   WORLD        173 

of  contemporary  thought  is  to  make  Httle  of 
the  Resurrection  of  Christ — so  httle  that  one 
is  often  left  in  doubt  as  to  whether  the  Rising 
from  the  Dead  is  accepted  hterally  or  is  re- 
garded as  a  figure  of  speech.  It  is  pointed 
out  that  the  witnesses  of  the  Resurrection 
were  few  and  their  testimony  was  meagre. 
It  is  urged :  Why  comphcate  the  simple  in- 
fluence of  the  words  and  example  of  Jesus 
by  introducing  the  difficult  and  contradictory 
thought  of  His  Resurrection  from  the  grave, 
His  coming  back  into  a  life  that  He  had  left 
by  the  ordinary  exit,  death  ?  As  a  problem 
in  religious  thinking,  this  modern  tendency, 
(an  indirect  result  of  the  historical  movement,) 
to  diverge  from  the  position  on  which  the 
apostles  stood,  is  most  interesting.  It  should 
be  studied  attentively,  and  wholly  without 
the  resentment  ordinarily  meted  out  to  devi- 
ations from  orthodoxy,  A  fundamental 
question  is  involved  in  it :  a  question  that 
must  be  dealt  with  in  the  light  of  the  theo- 
logical history  of  the  last  three  hundred 
years :  the  question  of  the  relation  of  the 
Atonement  to  the  Incarnation.     I  would  that 


174       THE   SAVIOUR   OF  THE  WORLD 

there  were  time  to  take  up  the  bearings  of 
this  question  upon  the  course  of  modern  re- 
ligious thought ;  to  show  how  the  present 
tendency  to  remain  silent  concerning  the 
Atonement  and  the  Resurrection,  and  to 
speak  only  of  the  Life  and  the  teachings,  is  a 
reaction,  slowly  gathering  volume  through 
the  last  sixty  years,  from  a  scholastic  the- 
ology that  sought  to  account  for  the  Atone- 
ment in  academic  considerations  exterior  to 
the  fact  instead  of  interpreting  the  death  of 
Christ  in  the  light  of  the  Divine  fact  of  the 
Incarnation.  No  one,  perhaps,  in  all  these 
years  of  theological  unrest,  has  more  dis- 
cerningly analyzed  the  situation,  than  did 
that  Scottish  saint  and  prophet,  John  Mc- 
Leod  Campbell,  who,  being  far  in  advance 
of  his  day,  was  misunderstood  and  rejected 
by  his  brethren  as  a  heretic,  but  of  whom 
Tulloch  nobly  said,  ''  Never  was  Christian 
minister  more  divinely  called.  He  was  born 
to  preach  the  Gospel,  and  to  counsel  and 
guide  others  in  the  Divine  life.  He  had  the 
true  apostolical  succession,  if  ever  man  had, 
and,  what  he  had,  he  retained.     The  same 


THE  SAVIOUR  OF   THE  WORLD        1 75 

divine  unction  lay  upon  all  his  words,  and 
followed  him  wherever  he  went.  It  is  im- 
possible to  conceive  a  ministry  more  divinely 
consecrated  and  sustained,  and  yet  more  in 
the  face  of  all  church  theory.  He  was  as 
plainly  'called  to  be  a  minister  of  Jesus 
Christ  through  the  will  of  God'  as  any 
apostle  ever  was,  and  his  divine  calling  re- 
mained independent  of  any  ecclesiastical 
sanction,  and  even  grew  richer  in  his  isola- 
tion. The  fact  is  beyond  question,  whatever 
our  theories  may  make  of  it."^  McLeod 
Campbell,  in  the  introduction  to  his  book: 
''The  Nature  of  the  Atonement,  and  its  Re- 
lation to  Remission  of  Sins  and  Eternal 
Life"^  says,  with  a  perspicuity  and  grasp  on 
the  situation  that  appear  little  less  than  in- 
spired, when  one  reflects  that  the  words  were 
written  in  the  time  of  Coleridge :  "  The 
faith  of  the  Atonement  presupposes  the  faith 
of  the  Incarnation.  It  may  be  also  said  his- 
torically that  the  faith  of  the  Incarnation  has 

*  Movements  of  Religious  Thought  (New  York,  Scribners^ 
1886),  p.  146. 
2  Sixth  Edition,  London,  1886,  p.  xvi. 


176       THE   SAVIOUR   OF  THE   WORLD 

usually  had  conjoined  with  it  the  faith  of  the 
Atonement.  The  great  question  which  has 
divided  men  as  to  these  fundamental  doc- 
trines has  been  the  relation  in  w^hich  they 
stand  to  each  other — which  was  to  be  re- 
garded as  primary,  which  secondary? — was 
an  atonement  the  great  necessity  in  reference 
to  man's  salvation,  out  of  which  the  neces- 
sity for  the  Incarnation  arose,  because  a  Di- 
vine Saviour  alone  could  make  an  adequate 
Atonement  for  sin  ? — or,  is  the  Incarnation  to 
be  regarded  as  the  primary  and  highest  fact 
in  God's  relation  to  man,  in  the  light  of 
which  God's  interest  in  man  and  purpose  for 
man  can  alone  be  truly  seen? — and  is  the 
Atonement  to  be  contemplated  as  taking 
place  in  order  to  the  fulfillment  of  the  Divine 
purpose  for  man  which  the  Atonement  re- 
veals ?  I  feel  it  impossible  in  any  measure 
to  realize  what  I  believe,  in  believing  in  the 
Incarnation,  without  giving  a  preference  to 
the  latter  view ;  and  accordingly  my  attempt 
to  understand  and  illustrate  the  nature  of  the 
Atonement  has  been  made  in  the  way  of 
taking  the  subject  to  the  light  of  the  Incar 


THE   SAVIOUR   OF  THE  WORLD        1 77 

nation.  Assuming  the  Incarnation,  I  have 
sought  to  reahze  the  Divine  mind  in  Christ 
as  perfect  Sonship  towards  God  and  perfect 
Brotherhood  towards  men,  and,  doing  so, 
the  Incarnation  has  appeared,  developing  it- 
self naturally  and  necessarily  as  the  Atone- 
ment." Two  other  utterances  of  McLeod 
Campbell  I  must  quote  as  bearing  upon  our 
present  discussion  :  **  If  the  Atonement,"  he 
says,  "  is  righdy  conceived  of  as  a  develop- 
ment of  the  Incarnation,  the  relation  of  the 
Atonement  to  the  Incarnation  is  indissoluble ; 
and,  in  a  clear  apprehension  of  the  Incarna- 
tion must  be  felt  to  be  so."  ^  Then,  as  if  an- 
ticipating the  present  theological  situation 
he  adds :  ''  Yet  I  cannot  forget  that  there 
are  earnest  and  deep-thinking  minds  in 
whose  case  the  faith  of  the  Incarnation  and 
their  acceptance  of  it  as  the  fundamental 
grace  of  God  to  man,  to  the  light  of  which 
all  that  concerns  God's  relation  to  man  is  to 
be  taken,  has  issued,  not  in  the  recognition 
of  the  Atonement  as  a  development  of  the 
Incarnation,  but  on  the  contrary,  in  regard- 

^  Op.  cit.,  p.  xviii, 


1 78       THE   SAVIOUR   OF  THE  WORLD 

ing  the  Atonement  as,  in  the  Hght  of  the  In- 
carnation, aHke  uncalled  for  and  inconceiv- 
able." ^  Words  more  expressive  of  the 
present  situation  could  not  be  spoken.  The 
present  tendency  is  to  reconstruct  theology 
around  a  conception  of  the  Incarnate  Jesus 
which  satisfies  all  the  ethical  requirements 
without  introducing  the  metaphysic  of 
Atonement,  and  which,  thereby,  relieves  one 
of  all  obligation  to  attach  importance  to  the 
Resurrection  of  Christ.  This  is  precisely  the 
state  of  thought  that  McLeod  Campbell  an- 
ticipated and  of  which  he  prophesied.  It  is 
easily  accounted  for.  It  is  a  reaction,  and, 
one  must  add,  a  wholesome  reaction,  from 
scholastic  persistence  in  developing  theories 
of  the  Atonement  dependent  on  academic 
considerations  exterior  to  the  fact.  But  it 
must  never  be  forgotten  that  such  a  recon- 
struction is  a  complete  divergence  from 
apostolic  Christianity,  and  from  every  his- 
toric precedent  that  has  determined  the 
course  of  Christian  experience.  It  is  a  new 
Gospel,  fashioned  on  other  lines  than  those 

1  Op.  cit.,  p.  xviii. 


THE   SAVIOUR   OF   THE   WORLD        1 79 

that  gave  power  to  the  ministry  of  the  sue- 
cessors  of  Christ.  The  extent  of  this  di- 
vergence McLeod  Campbell  foresaw,  and 
estimated  w4th  prophetic  insight  the  elimina- 
tions necessitated  by  a  faith  in  the  Incarna- 
tion that  combines  with  a  rejection  of  the 
Atonement  and  indifference  to  the  Resurrec- 
tion. ''What  is  left  out  of  Christianity  is 
just  that  part  of  revealed  truth  in  which  the 
love  of  God  is  connected  with  the  need  of 
man  as  a  sinner ;  all,  in  a  word,  which  gives 
the  Gospel  a  remedial  character,  representing 
the  Son  of  God  as  having  come  'to  seek 
and  to  save  that  which  was  lost' — repre- 
senting man  as  having  destroyed  himself, 
while  revealing  the  hope  that  remained  for 
him  in  God.  Redemption  only  reveals  the 
deep  love  of  the  Father  of  our  spirits  [re- 
demption expressed  in  the  terms  of  the 
Divine  Sacrifice,  which  is  the  necessary  con- 
summation of  the  Divine  Incarnation] .  But 
to  trace  redemption  to  its  ultimate  root  in 
the  Divine  fatherliness,  and  to  regard  that 
fatherliness  as  leaving  no  room  for  the  need 
of  redemption,  are  altogether  opposite  appre- 


l8o       THE  SAVIOUR   OF  THE  WORLD 

hensions  of  the  grace  of  God."  ^  It  is  safe  to 
predict  that  a  divergence  so  complete  from 
the  fundamental  positions  of  Christianity 
cannot  effect  a  permanent  readjustment  of 
religious  thinking.  Brilliant  and  sincere 
though  it  may  be,  and,  for  the  time  being, 
attractive  as  a  substitute  for  ponderous 
scholasticism,  it  must  soon  disclose  the  rela- 
tive poverty  of  its  content  as  compared  with 
the  magnificent  fullness  of  the  apostolic  the- 
ology ;  and  the  relative  inability  of  its  insist- 
ent appeal  to  history,  to  quench  the  unfath- 
omable thirst  of  the  soul  for  knowledge  of 
the  "  deep  things  of  God."  The  present  cur- 
tailment of  the  field  of  theological  thinking 
and  the  present  disparagement  of  the  meta- 
physical Scriptures  are  an  episode  in  the 
history  of  religious  thinking ;  contributing 
to  the  vitality,  but  not  deflecting  the  current, 
of  Christian  belief.  Already  the  counter  re- 
action appears  towards  a  more  reverent 
worship  of  the  Crucified  Redeemer,  a  more 
profound  apprehension  of  the  power  of  His 
Resurrection.     The     sincerity    of     historical 

•  McLeod  Cam^jbell,  op.  cit.,  p.  xxi. 


THE  SAVIOUR  OF  THE  WORLD        l8l 

criticism  is  bringing  out  the  fact  that  Chris- 
tianity is  built  on  the  Resurrection  of  the 
Crucified.  The  simple  influence  of  the 
words  and  example  of  Jesus,  enshrined  in 
memory  and  appealing  to  the  imagination,  is 
not  the  actual  dynamic  that  gave  force  and 
victory  to  those  who  went  forth  at  the  begin- 
ning, Christianizing  the  world.  It  was  the 
glowing  Gospel  of  Christ  Risen.  "What- 
ever may  have  happened  at  the  grave,"  says 
Harnack,^  "one  thing  is  certain:  this  grave 
is  the  birthplace  of  the  indestructible  belief 
that  death  is  vanquished,  that  there  is  life 
eternal.  Wherever  there  is  a  strong  faith  in 
the  infinite  value  of  the  soul,  wherever  the 
sufferings  of  the  present  are  measured 
against  a  future  of  glory,  this  feeling  of  life 
is  bound  up  with  the  conviction  that  Jesus 
Christ  has  passed  through  death,  that  God 
has  awakened  and  raised  Him  to  life  and 
glory.  It  is  not  by  any  speculative  ideas  of 
philosophy,  but  by  the  vision  of  Jesus'  Life 
and  Death,  and  by  the  feeling  of  His  imper- 
ishable union  with  God,  that  mankind,  so  far 

1  What  is  Christianity  ?  Eng,  trans.,  p,  162. 


1 82       THE  SAVIOUR  OF  THE  WORLD 

as  it  believes  in  these  things,  has  attained  to 
that  certainty  of  eternal  life  it  was  meant  to 
know  and  which  it  dimly  discerns  ;  eternal 
life  in  time  and  beyond  time." 

But,  when  this  conclusion  is  reached,  con- 
cerning the  original  dynamic  of  Christianity, 
the  field  of  inquiry  is  but  fairly  open  for 
those  who,  by  the  recovery  of  apostolic  the- 
ology, hope  to  witness,  in  the  next  great  re- 
interpretation  of  the  idea  of  the  Church,  a 
restoration  of  the  spiritual  power  of  the  First 
Days,  and  a  corresponding  advance  towards 
the  Christianization  of  the  world.  Funda- 
mental questions  arise.  Why  did  the  Resur- 
rection of  the  Crucified  give  Him  power  to 
transform  the  personal  and  social  ideals  of 
men?  Whence  came  the  converting  and 
sanctifying  power  of  that  Gospel  of  the 
Resurrection,  which,  from  the  moment  of  its 
first  promulgation,  was  a  unique  force  for  the 
redemption  and  transformation  of  character? 
Evidently  that  power  did  not  reside  in  the 
miracle  of  the  Resurrection,  as  such.  The 
eye-witnesses,  few  in  number  and  altogether 
without    prestige,    alleged    certain    physical 


THE  SAVIOUR   OF  THE  WORLD        183 

facts  in  connection  with  the  rising  of  Christ 
from  the  dead.  The  broken  seal,  the  un- 
socketed  stone,  the  deserted  tomb,  the  angel 
presence,  the  apparition  of  the  Risen  One  in 
the  garden — those  were  the  external  phe- 
nomena of  the  great  Return  to  life.  Taken 
by  themselves,  as  items  of  testimony  to  an 
astounding  fact,  they  might  create  astonish- 
ment in  some,  incredulity  in  others.  They 
possessed  no  moral  significance,  reacting 
upon  character.  Mere  reiteration  of  marvels 
could  not  produce  a  religion  of  the  Spirit 
It  was  in  the  moral  significance  of  the  Resur- 
rection of  the  Crucified  that  we  find  the 
secret  of  immortal  power  that  clothed  the 
preaching  of  the  apostles.  It  was  in  the 
moral  message  of  a  risen  Christ  to  the  indi- 
vidual soul  and  to  society — a  Christ  who  had 
tasted  death  for  every  man  and  had  vindi- 
cated by  Resurrection  His  claim  to  the  alle- 
giance of  every  man — that  we  find  the  clue 
to  those  marvellous  transformations  of  per- 
sonal and  social  ideals  that  marked  the  first 
efforts  to  Christianize  society.  The  theology 
of  the  apostles,  however  it  may  have  reflected 


184       THE   SAVIOUR   OF   THE   WORLD 

philosophical  influences,  Grecian  or  Jewish 
(and  what  teachers  of  any  age  can  fail  to 
reflect  contemporary  philosophical  influ- 
ences?) was  essentially  the  interpretation, 
under  the  guidance  of  the  Spirit,  of  the 
moral  message  of  the  Risen  Christ.  The 
evident  intention  of  their  preaching  was,  not 
to  excite  the  imagination  with  physical  de- 
tails of  the  Uprising  from  the  tomb,  but  to 
arrest  the  conscience  and  transfuse  the  reason 
with  considerations  that  spring  from  the  fact 
that  the  Crucified  has  vanquished  death. 
The  moral  significance  of  the  Resurrection 
flooded  like  sunlight  the  ministry  of  the 
Apostolic  Church.  The  immensity  of  the 
subject  towered  above  small  questions  of  de- 
tail and  conferred  upon  the  earliest  Christian 
preaching  elemental  grandeur  and  dignity. 
Those  who  heard  the  apostles  felt  them- 
selves to  be  in  the  presence  of  men,  each  of 
whom  had  seen  the  vision  of  the  face  of  God 

And  by  the  vision  splendid 
Was  on  his  way  attended. 

The  sterile  formulae  of  orthodoxy  had  no 
place  in  that  impassioned  preaching  of  life 


THE  SAVIOUR  OF  THE  WORLD        185 

and  immortality.  The  fellowship  of  the  Re- 
deemer's sufferings,  and  the  power  of  His 
Resurrection  exalted  and  humbled  these 
splendid  apologists  of  the  gospel  of  grace ; 
who,  despising  earthly  rewards,  and  sorrow- 
ing with  Christly  sorrow  over  the  evils  of 
humanity,  were  made  all  things  to  all  men, 
that  they  might  win  disciples  for  Him  who 
had  been  lifted  upon  Calvary.  The  moral 
significance  of  the  Resurrection,  as  it  became 
the  burden  of  their  preaching,  extended  God- 
ward  and  manward,  illuminating  the  mystery 
of  the  Incarnation  ;  exhibiting  the  majesty  of 
human  life.  By  the  Resurrection  was  certi- 
fied the  Divinity  of  the  Son  of  God,  the 
validity  of  His  claim  (concerning  the  fact  of 
which  no  apostle  ever  doubted)  to  meta- 
physical union  with  Deity,  the  reality  and 
effectiveness  of  His  Sacrifice  for  sin.  By  the 
Resurrection  assurance  of  personal  immor- 
tality was  given  to  men,  and  the  present  life 
was  lifted  above  the  vicissitudes  of  a  perish- 
able body  and  invested  with  infinite  meaning 
and  eternal  value. 

It  will  be  seen,  by  these  reflections  upon 


l86       THE   SAVIOaR   OF  THE  WORLD 

the  ministry  of  the  apostles,  that  the  dynamic 
of  Christianity  was  found  originally  in  the 
Person  of  Christ  and  not  originally  in  the 
eloquence  of  His  sayings  and  the  beneficence 
of  His  actions.  The  sayings  and  the  actions 
took  on  their  great  significance  because  of 
what  He  was  in  Himself,  as  the  *'  effulgence 
of  the  Father's  glory,  the  express  image  of 
His  substance."  Well  did  Whately  say, 
"  Christ  came  not  so  much  to  make  a  revela- 
tion of  truth  by  His  own  words,  as  to  be  a 
Revelation  of  Truth  in  His  own  Person." 

As  the  great  moral  messages  of  the  Resur- 
rection were  brought  to  men's  hearts  and 
consciences  by  apostles  clothed  in  the  au- 
thority not  of  a  carnal  commandment  but  of 
original  and  inherent  truth,  instantaneous 
transformations  of  personal  and  social  ideals 
occurred  in  those  who  experienced  the  im- 
pact of  these  tremendous  messages.  The 
Pentecostal  sermon  of  Peter,  ringing  with 
the  note  of  Resurrection  and  bringing  home 
the  awful  facts  of  Divine  Sacrifice  for  human 
sin  and  the  reality  of  personal  immortality, 
produced  that  searching  of  heart  and  that 


THE   SAVIOUR   OF  THE  WORLD        187 

profound  resuscitation  of  conscience  which 
are  reproduced  to-day  by  those  in  whom 
have  survived  the  faith,  the  insight,  the  sim- 
pHcity,  the  self-devotion  of  the  apostolate. 
Nor  was  the  effect  of  the  apostoHc  preaching 
to  foster  an  individuahstic  interest  in  per- 
sonal salvation  as  in  contrast  with  the  large 
social  outlook  and  the  deep  social  solicitude 
of  Jesus.  It  has  been  claimed  by  the  apolo- 
gists of  the  new  movement  which  sets  the 
historic  Jesus  in  contrast  with  the  theology 
of  the  apostles,  that  the  tendency  of  the  latter 
is  to  develope  a  self-centred  religious  experi- 
ence culminating  in  mechanical  evangelical- 
ism, whereas  the  spirit  of  the  former  was  to 
educate  a  social  conscience  subordinating 
self  to  the  larger  interests  of  the  kingdom  of 
God.  In  the  light  of  apostolic  history  it 
would  appear  that  this  attempted  discrimi- 
nation is  academic.  Nothing  is  more  strik- 
ing than  the  reconstruction  of  social  ideals 
and  the  correction  of  erroneous  individualism 
that  occurred  as  the  moral  messages  of  the 
Resurrection  struck  the  conscience  of  those 
who    came   under  the   ministrations   of   the 


l88       THE   SAVIOUR   OF  THE  WORLD 

apostles.  In  the  Fourth  chapter  of  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles  is  a  typical  example  of  this : 
The  narrator  points  out  that  upon  a  certain 
community  the  Gospel  of  Christ  Risen  was 
brought  to  bear  in  full  force.  ''  With  great 
power  gave  the  apostles  witness  to  the 
Resurrection  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  great 
grace  was  upon  them  all."  He  then  re- 
counts the  effects  issuing  from  these  presen- 
tations. There  occurred  the  concentration  of 
men's  minds  upon  the  highest  truth.  Their 
thoughts  were  no  longer  scattered  amidst 
secondary  issues,  but  converged  upon  the 
facts  corroborating  and  consummating  the 
Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God  :  ''  The  multi- 
tude of  them  that  believed  were  of  one  heart 
and  of  one  mind."  There  came  with  this 
concentration  of  interest  upon  the  central 
fact  of  Christianity  the  correction  of  false  in- 
dividualism by  the  birth  of  a  new  sense  of 
social  responsibility.  The  vision  of  brother- 
hood arose,  with  its  correspondence  of  inter- 
ests and  its  community  of  effort :  "  Neither 
said  any  that  aught  of  the  things  which  he 
possessed   was   his   own,  but   they   had   all 


THE  SAVIOUR  OF  THE  WORLD        189 

things  common."  And  with  this  birth  of  the 
spirit  of  brotherhood  and  this  new  sense  of 
social  responsibihty  came  the  quickening  of 
desire  to  use  Hfe's  resources  in  the  noblest 
way,  placing  them  at  His  disposal  who  had 
surrendered  all  things  for  them,  that  they 
through  His  Death  might  live  unto  God. 
"  As  many  as  had  lands  or  houses  sold  them, 
and  brought  the  prices  of  the  things  that 
were  sold,  and  laid  them  down  at  the  apostles' 
feet."  Such  were  the  social  effects  of  the 
apostolic  witness  to  the  Resurrection ;  such 
the  clarifying  of  vision,  the  broadening  of 
social  interests,  the  regeneration  of  conduct, 
as  men  came  under  the  power  of  a  theology 
that  was  not  heavy  with  scholasticism,  nor 
technical  with  sectarianism,  but  vital  with  the 
experience  of  those  "  who  did  eat  and  drink 
with  Him  after  He  rose  from  the  dead,"  and 
who  declared  "  that  which  they  had  seen  and 
heard  and  which  their  hands  had  handled,  of 
the  Word  of  Life."  What  does  the  Church 
need  more,  at  the  present  time,  than  the 
dynamic  of  the  apostolic  age  to  certify  the 
Divinity  of  the  Son  of  God ;  to  bring  back 


I90       THE  SAVIOUR   OF  THE  WORLD 

the  assurance  of  personal  immortality ;  to 
invest  the  present  life  with  new  meaning  and 
eternal  value,  so  that  men  shall  no  longer 
live  unto  themselves  in  a  complacent  assur- 
ance of  salvation,  but,  drawn  into  the  fellow- 
ship of  His  sufferings  and  exalted  throughout 
the  whole  range  of  their  thinking  by  the 
power  of  His  Resurrection,  shall  henceforth 
live  unto  Him  who  died  for  them  and  rose 
again.  So  to  live  means  to  live  for  others ; 
to  live  for  the  Christianization  of  the  world. 

Such  was  the  meaning  of  apostolic  Chris- 
tology  in  that  First  Age,  before  ecclesiasticism 
and  scholasticism  had  arisen  to  confuse  and 
divert  the  minds  of  men.  Its  spirit  and  its 
power  were  determined  not  by  any  council  of 
apostles,  formulating  a  system  of  theology, 
but  by  the  living  Christ  Himself,  organizing 
His  Church,  giving  it  its  commission  and  its 
message.  He  had  emerged  from  the  agony 
and  humiliation  of  His  Sacrifice ; — He  had 
fully  manifested  the  Father,  by  tracing  the 
redemption  consummated  on  Calvary  to  its 
ultimate  root  in  the  fatherliness  of  God  ; — 
He  had  condemned  sin  by  the  offering  up  of 


THE  SAVIOUR  OF  THE  WORLD        191 

His  own  flesh  publicly ;  and  now,  casting 
away  the  fetters  of  death  He  had  arisen  and 
taken  unto  Himself  His  most  glorious  title — 
the  Saviour  of  the  World.  Finally,  He  had 
issued  to  His  representatives  the  Gospel  of 
the  Resurrection,  for  the  Christianizing  of 
the  world. 

Through  the  slow  and  painful  evolution  of 
His  Church  the  work  appointed  by  Himself 
has  been  going  on.  Many  hindrances,  per- 
sonal and  institutional,  have  stood  in  its  way. 
Ignorance,  shortsightedness,  shallowness,  sel- 
fishness, apathy,  rivalry,  moral  defeat  are 
among  the  personal  hindrances  that,  in  one 
age  and  another,  in  one  locality  and  another, 
have  obstructed,  postponed,  nullified  the 
plan  of  Christ.  Nor  have  the  institutional 
hindrances  been  less  formidable.  While  one 
realizes  that  the  Church  could  not  have  had 
external  continuity  without  her  institutions, 
nor  intellectual  self-realization  without  her 
schools  of  theology  and  her  dogmatic  sys- 
tems, it  is  impossible  to  study  dispassionately 
the  history  of  ecclesiasticism  and  scholasti- 
cism without  perceiving  how  these  vast  em- 


192        THE   SAVIOUR   OF  THE   WORLD 

bodiments  of  human  authority  and  specula- 
tion have  clogged  the  buoyancy,  confused 
the  simplicity,  delayed  the  accomplishment 
of  the  chief  end  of  the  Church  of  Christ — the 
Christianization  of  the  world. 

Yet  we  must  not  look  narrowly,  and  with 
the  mind  of  pessimism  on  this  mysteriously 
slow  and  halting  evolution  of  the  Christian 
Church.  We  must  take  the  largest,  broadest 
view — the  only  view  worthy  of  those  who 
worship  a  living  Christ.  We  must  believe 
that  these  successive  reinterpretations  of  the 
idea  of  the  Church,  with  all  their  disad- 
vantages, have  been  necessary ;  and  that 
they  have  brought  discipline  and  enrichment, 
without  which  the  vast  work  yet  to  be  done 
were  not  possible.  Especially  may  we  hope 
that  the  present  wide-spread  longing  in  the 
hearts  of  men  for  a  simpler  and  more  homo- 
geneous Church  means  that  we  are  on  the 
verge  of  recovering  that  apostolic  sense  of 
Christ  Crucified  and  Christ  Risen,  which  can 
give  adequate  meaning  to  that  mighty  con- 
ception, The  Saviour  oj  the  World.  It  is 
recorded  that  our  Lord,  after  His  interview 


THE  SAVIOUR  OF  THE  WORLD        193 

with  the  woman  of  Samaria,  tarried  some- 
what in  the  community  where  she  dwelt,  and 
came  in  contact  with  many  of  the  people, 
who,  having  first  been  interested  in  Him  on 
the  report  of  the  woman,  finally  declared : 
*'  Now  we  believe,  not  for  thy  speaking,  for 
we  have  heard  for  ourselves  and  know  that 
this  is  indeed  the  Saviour  of  the  World."  It 
may  be  that,  as  the  outcome  of  the  various 
modern  movements  towards  a  new  apprecia- 
tion of  Jesus,  there  is  at  hand  a  rediscovery 
of  the  one  coordinating  principle,  a  new  ap- 
prehension of  Jesus  Christ  as  Saviour  of  the 
World,  which  is  to  be,  for  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury, the  equivalent  of  the  apostolic  spirit 
and  of  the  apostolic  point  of  view.  One  can- 
not believe  that  the  wide-spread  sense  of  need 
of  a  fresh  and  simpler  reinterpretation  of  the 
Church  is  either  restlessness  or  radicalism. 
Rather  is  it  an  unformulated  conviction,  ris- 
ing everywhere  like  the  tide,  that  neither 
ecclesiasticism  nor  scholasticism  contains  the 
vital  force  needed  for  the  Christianization  of 
the  world  ;  and  that  a  recovery  of  the  apos- 
tolic power  for  witnessing  to  the  Resurrec- 


194       THE   SAVIOUR   OF  THE  WORLD 

tion  of  the  Crucified  shall  alone  bring  back 
into  modern  life  those  three  fundamental 
convictions:  The  Love  of  God  manifested 
on  the  Cross  of  Christ  for  salvation  from  sin ; 
the  fact  of  personal  immortality  attested  in 
the  Resurrection  of  the  Crucified  ;  the  moral 
significance  of  each  individual  life  in  the 
light  of  its  own  eternity. 

As  I  study  the  deepest  religious  thinking 
of  our  time,  together  with  the  ebb  and  flow 
of  contemporary  movements  for  social  bet- 
terment, I  see  much  that  suggests  the  unpre- 
meditated convergence  of  many  lines  of  tend- 
ency upon  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Saviour  of 
the  World.  I  shall  briefly  indicate  some  of 
these  lines,  in  closing  the  present  Lecture. 

The  scientific  study  of  religion  is  one  of 
the  most  fruitful  disciplines  of  modern  schol- 
arship. Religion  has  been  frankly  recog- 
nized as  a  universal  phenomenon  of  human 
life,  and  an  impartial  comparison  of  its 
modes  of  expression  as  a  necessary  condi- 
tion of  knowledge  of  the  race.  It  is  inter- 
esting to  recall  the  distrust  with  which  the 
study  of  comparative  religion  was  regarded 


THE  SAVIOUR   OF  THE  WORLD        195 

in  conservative  Christian  circles.  It  was 
feared  that  serious  interest  in  the  investiga- 
tion of  non-Christian  faiths,  long  denounced 
by  the  authority  of  prejudice  as  wholly 
worthless  and  vile,  might  impair  the  suprem- 
acy of  the  Christian  religion,  and  derogate 
from  its  prerogative  to  be  an  evangel  for  all 
nations.  It  was  contended  that  to  treat  re- 
spectfully the  religious  conceptions  of  the  Far 
East  was  to  pay  tribute  to  Satan  and  to  rob 
Christ  of  His  crown.  These  ominous  pre- 
dictions have  not  been  fulfilled.  The  study 
of  the  philosophy  and  history  of  religion, 
while  it  has  dissolved  many  prejudices,  cor- 
rected many  misrepresentations  and  brought 
to  light  many  admirable  facts  touching  the 
religious  life  of  races  beyond  the  confines 
of  Christianity,  has  most  clearly  shown  the 
point  at  which  the  great  non-Christian  faiths 
stop  short  of  power  for  the  thoroughgoing 
transformation  of  character,  which  is  salva- 
tion. They  contain  no  central  personality 
morally  adequate  to  deal  with  the  conscience, 
with  the  heart,  with  the  will.  They  have  no 
World-Saviour  to  offer.     They  are  without 


196       THE  SAVIOUR  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  vitality  that  can  give  life  to  the  soul  dead 
in  trespasses  and  sins.  The  more  attentively 
we  study  them,  estimating  their  fitness  to 
minister  to  the  religious  needs  of  man,  the 
more  obvious  becomes  their  moral  inade- 
quacy. They  have  their  heroes  and  their 
saints,  their  prophets  and  their  sages,  but 
they  have  no  one  to  take  the  place  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Saviour  of  the  World.  They  have 
no  equivalent  for  His  power  to  recreate  the 
fundamental  instincts  and  motives  of  the 
soul,  to  purge  and  reorganize  the  affections, 
to  endue  with  the  power  of  the  Spirit.  The 
older  religions  are  weakening  because  of 
moral  inadequacy,  and  in  their  weakness  are 
becoming  corrupt ;  they  are  trying  to  arrest 
that  process  of  corruption  by  assimilating 
the  salt  of  the  ethics  of  Jesus ;  while  He, 
standing  more  conspicuously  than  ever,  be- 
fore the  eyes  of  the  whole  race,  the  Desire 
of  all  nations,  the  Transformer  of  social  ideals, 
the  Regenerator  of  motives,  the  Absolver 
from  sin,  is  extending  His  influence  and 
multiplying  His  triumphs  as  the  Saviour  of 
the  World.     I  believe  that  this  extension  of 


THE   SAVIOUR   OF   THE  WORLD        197 

the  influence  of  Jesus  Christ  as  a  Saviour  is, 
in  these  momentous  times,  advancing  more 
rapidly  than  our  most  sanguine  estimates  of 
progress.  Much  of  that  extension  of  influ- 
ence is,  as  yet,  wholly  secret.  The  suprem- 
acy of  Christ  is  far  wider  than  the  formal 
acknowledgment  of  that  supremacy. 

I  observe  also,  as  another  of  the  lines  of 
convergence,  the  reactions  occurring  in  our 
time  from  movements  tending  to  set  Christ 
aside  and  to  substitute  some  other  force  to 
take  His  place.  Many  such  movements, 
more  or  less  sharply  defined,  diversify  the 
life  of  this  alert  and  individualistic  age.  In- 
dividual minds,  or  groups  of  minds,  impa- 
tient of  ecclesiastical  restriction  and  theolog- 
ical dogmatism,  feeling  that  the  old  methods 
lag  behind  the  newer  thinking,  break  away 
into  original  expedients  for  reclaiming  so- 
ciety and  satisfying  the  higher  instincts. 
The  Social  Settlement  and  the  Institutional 
Church  sprang  from  impatience  of  the  life- 
lessness  and  inefficiency  of  ecclesiastical 
routine.  They  broke  from  devitalized  meth- 
ods   into    naturalness,    simplicity,    practical 


198       THE   SAVIOUR   OF  THE  WORLD 

helpfulness.  Being  in  their  nature  reaction- 
ary, they  went,  in  many  instances,  to  extreme 
positions,  in  the  efEort  to  substitute  for  the 
ancient  way  of  the  Church,  new  incentives  to 
the  growth  of  character.  As  their  methods 
are  tested  by  popular  response,  it  is  transpir- 
ing as  the  result  of  experience  that  social 
activity  cannot  fill  the  place  of  Christ ;  that 
we  may  do  without  the  stereotyped  methods 
of  ecclesiasticism,  but  we  cannot  dispense 
with  the  Presence,  the  example,  the  teaching, 
and  the  redemption  of  Him  whose  joy  was 
to  immerse  Himself  in  human  life,  bearing 
its  griefs,  carrying  its  sorrows,  lifting  it  to 
God. 

Another  very  striking  phenomenon  of  our 
time  is  an  inclination,  diffused  through  edu- 
cated circles,  to  substitute  a  pantheistic 
nature- worship  for  the  ancient  way  of  the 
Church ;  a  non-religious  ethics  freed  from 
old  pious  restrictions  upon  conduct ;  a  satis- 
faction in  culture  absolved  from  the  limita- 
tions of  traditional  belief.  With  this  is  joined 
enthusiasm  for  social  reform,  and  humanita- 
rian   charity   which   boasts   its  separateness 


THE   SAVIOUR   OF   THE  WORLD        199 

from  the  sounding  brass  of  orthodoxy,  the 
tinkHng  cymbal  of  rituaUsm.  Viewing  this 
culture-movement  from  the  outside,  and  su- 
perficially, it  presents  aspects  answering  to 
one's  own  training  and  temperament.  To 
those  who  follow  with  unquestioning  obe- 
dience the  ecclesiastical  routine,  this  break- 
ing away  into  nature  worship  seems  crude 
impiety  and  godlessness  ;  to  some  who  obey 
the  church  form,  yet  with  weariness  and  dis- 
content, this  casting  off  of  religious  obligation 
seems  a  comfortable  paganism  that  escapes 
a  galling  yoke  of  prescribed  obedience.  In 
many  instances  it  is  neither  the  one  nor  the 
other :  neither  godlessness  nor  comfortable 
paganism.  Beneath  its  surface  calm,  one 
who  has  insight  may  read  many  a  tragedy 
of  spiritual  experience :  protest  against  un- 
sympathetic dogmatism,  resentment  of  sec- 
tarian narrowness,  exhausted  patience  under 
preaching  that  lacked  vision  of  the  eternal 
essence  of  truth,  revolt  against  formalism, 
blind  wandering  into  nature-worship,  and, 
beneath  all,  unconquerable  thirst  for  the 
living  God,  the  cry  of  the  soul  for  pardon 


200       THE   SAVIOUR   OF   THE  WORLD 

and  peace :  *'  O  Lamb  of  God  that  takest 
away  the  sins  of  the  world,  have  mercy  upon 
me  ! "  Withdrawal  from  unsatisfying  ordi- 
nances, and  unexpressive  formulas,  is  not 
always  worldliness.  He  who  searches  the 
heart  beholds  such  as  are  seeking  a  simpler 
way  to  Himself,  a  religious  life  disburdened 
of  unreality,  an  approach  to  Christ  like  his 
who  leaned  upon  the  Saviour's  breast.  The 
Church  that  most  reverently  and  simply  ex- 
alts the  Saviour  of  the  World,  even  were  it  by 
the  silent  sign  of  the  crucifix,  shall  be  the 
Church  to  which  the  currents  of  this  reaction 
from  unreality  shall  turn.  The  time  draws 
near  when  the  demand  for  an  uplifted  Christ 
— uplifted  with  the  passionate  devotion  of  an 
apostolic  age — shall  compel  a  reconsider- 
ation of  the  Protestant  status  qtio — to  meet 
the  hunger  of  those  who  would  recover  the 
Roman  veneration  for  the  Redeemer  without 
submitting  to  the  Roman  conception  of  au- 
thority. 

In  the  presence  of  these  religious  phenom- 
ena of  our  time  it  is  inspiring  to  recall  the 
onward  movements  of  thought  which,  with- 


THE   SAVIOUR   OF   THE  WORLD        20I 

out  collusion  or  premeditation,  through  vari- 
ous channels  seem  converg-ing  to  a  point 
where  the  supremacy  of  the  Saviour  of  the 
World  shall  be  shown  as  at  once  the  aspira- 
tion of  faith  and  the  verdict  of  science.  Scien- 
tific theology  is  putting  its  maturest  conclu- 
sions into  a  Christology  which  takes  on  in- 
creasingly the  colour  and  tone  of  apostolic 
thought.  The  revelation  of  God  in  Christ 
has  received  the  scientific  connotation  :  the 
Christlikeness  of  God.  God  is  as  Christ 
is.  He  that  hath  seen  Christ  hath  seen  the 
Father.  He  is  then  the  Saviour  of  the  World 
in  this  as  in  all  beside,  that  He  is  giving  the 
world  the  adequate  vision  of  God ;  He  is 
saving  the  world  from  distorted,  erroneous, 
misleading  views  of  duty  ;  He  is  saving  the 
world  by  shedding  abroad  in  it  the  true  light 
concerning  Him  with  whom  we  have  to  do. 
The  latest  deliverances  of  scientific  theology 
are  but  corroborations  and  amplifications  of 
that  magnificent  statement :  "  God,  having  of 
old  time  spoken  unto  the  fathers  in  the  proph- 
ets hath  at  the  end  of  these  days  spoken  unto 
us  in  His  Son ;  whom  He  appointed  heir  of 


202       THE  SAVIOUR  OF  THE  WORLD 

all  things,  the  effulgence  of  His  glory  and 
the  very  image  of  His  substance."  ^ 

Another  onward  movement  of  our  time  is 
the  growing  sense  of  the  world-wide  signifi- 
cance of  the  Incarnation.  The  momentary 
reaction  from  this,  produced  by  the  extreme 
pressure  of  the  historical  school  to  accentuate 
the  synoptical  narratives,  (an  effort  which 
cannot  be  too  highly  spoken  of  save  where  it 
attempts  to  discredit  the  metaphysic  of  the 
Fourth  Gospel) — this  momentary  reaction 
already  subsides ;  and  the  Incarnation  of 
the  Son  of  God  is  being  seen  in  the  light  of 
the  later  anthropology  and  psychology  ;  dis- 
closing the  profound  unities  that  underlie 
humanity.  It  is  being  seen  in  the  light  of 
the  world-wide  self-consciousness  of  Jesus 
Christ.  He  saw  Himself  in  world-relations ; 
His  flesh  was,  to  Him,  the  bread  which  He 
would  give  for  the  light  of  the  world.  His 
Death  was,  to  Him,  an  exaltation  above  all 
the  local  incidents  of  kinship  and  country 
and  brief  years  of  ministry,  into  a  Saviour- 
hood    for    the    race,    reaching    beyond    all 

>  Heb.  I  :  1-3. 


THE  SAVIOUR   OF  THE  WORLD       203 

boundaries,  overpassing  all  lines  of  cleav- 
age, gathering  together  in  one  the  whole 
human  family,  as  the  object  of  His  Sacrifice 
and  of  His  all-comprehending  love:  *'  I,  if  I 
be  lifted  up  from  the  earth  will  draw  all  men 
unto  Myself."  In  these  latter  days,  as  East 
and  West  are  meeting,  not  in  the  struggles  of 
war  alone,  but,  far  more,  in  the  peaceful  and 
interested  interchange  of  thought,  the  vast- 
ness  of  the  Incarnation  is  being  attested  in 
the  extraordinary  facility  with  which  minds 
of  every  racial  type,  of  every  diversity  of  an- 
cestral custom  and  belief  find  it  possible  to 
apprehend  the  spirit  and  purpose  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Christ  is  no  more  a  stranger  in  any 
land.  He  has  His  disciples  everywhere ;  and, 
in  them  all,  developes  the  one  type  of  experi- 
ence, the  one  vision  of  perfection,  the  one 
habit  of  communion  with  the  invisible 
Saviour.  It  is  the  witness  of  humanity  to 
the  Incarnation.  It  is  the  answer  of  a 
race  made  in  God's  image,  to  its  Maker 
and  its  Saviour. 


LECTURE    V 

THE      CONSTRUCTIVE      OFFICE 
OF     BIBLICAL     CRITICISM 


LECTURE    V 

THE      CONSTRUCTIVE      OFFICE 
OF     BIBLICAL     CRITICISM 

IT  has  been  pointed  out,  repeatedly,  in  the 
foregoing  pages,  that  these  Lectures  may 
be  regarded  as  an  attempt  to  interpret 
contemporary  conditions  in  the  field  of  relig- 
ious thinking,  and  to  present  an  argument 
for  a  more  clear  and  simple  apprehension  of 
the  universal  elements  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion, in  order  that  the  Church  may  more 
effectively  accomplish  the  work  entrusted 
to  her  by  Jesus  Christ,  namely,  the  Chris- 
tianization  of  the  world. 

The  critical  movement,  in  its  present  and 
prospective  effects  upon  religious  thinking,  is 
one  of  the  most  momentous  elements  of  the 
situation.  To  ignore  it  is  fatal  to  any  at- 
tempt to  interpret  contemporary  conditions  ; 
for  the  Christian  point  of  view,  especially  the 
Protestant  point  of  view,  involves  the  recog- 
207 


208  THE   CONSTRUCTIVE   OFFICE 

nition  of  the  critical  movement.  To  attack 
it,  on  the  ground  of  the  radicahsm  of 
some  of  its  advocates,  is  to  mislead  the  pub- 
lic mind  and  to  misrepresent  as  hostile  to 
Biblical  religion,  its  most  powerful  human  aid. 
Concerning  few  subjects  does  more  general 
misapprehension  exist.  No  task  is  more 
welcome,  and  none  more  appropriate,  to  the 
ardent  advocate  of  apostolic  theology,  than 
to  exhibit  the  constructive  office  of  Biblical 
criticism,  particularly  in  its  bearing  upon  a 
more  clear  and  simple  apprehension  of  the 
universal  elements  of  the  Christian  religion. 
The  first  and  simplest  step  is  to  show  the  re- 
lation of  the  theme  of  the  present  Lecture  to 
the  general  subject  under  consideration.  It 
is  obvious  that  the  Bible  is  our  main  source 
of  information  touching  the  elements  of  the 
Christian  religion.  The  claim  of  Biblical 
criticism  is  the  claim  of  a  right  and  a  duty  to 
obtain  direct  access  to  the  Bible,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  gaining  first-hand  knowledge  of  our 
holy  religion.  The  word  "criticism,"  as  a 
description  of  this  claim,  is  an  unfortunate 
and  misleading  word,  because  of  the  second- 


OF   BIBLICAL   CRITICISM  209 

ary  associations  that  have  gathered  about  it. 
As  used  in  popular  speech,  particularly  in  the 
verbal  form,  *'  to  criticise,"  it  suggests  un- 
pleasantly the  inclination  to  find  fault,  to 
raise  objections,  to  point  out  blemishes. 
But,  as  used  in  its  scientific  sense,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  study  of  Holy  Scripture,  "  criti- 
cism "  means  something  quite  different  from 
fault-finding;  something  which  appears  in 
the  structure  of  the  word  itself :  namely,  the 
exercise  of  the  power  of  judgment  in  the  pur- 
suit of  truth.  The  claim  of  Biblical  criticism 
is  the  claim  of  a  right,  which  is  also  a  duty, 
of  direct  access  to  the  Bible,  and  of  private 
judgment  in  the  study  and  interpretation  of 
the  Bible,  with  a  view  to  immediate,  and  in- 
creasingly accurate,  knowledge  of  its  con- 
tents. Its  ultimate  end  is  to  disperse  mis- 
conceptions, and  to  exhibit  truth ;  by  proc- 
esses involving  the  highest  and  most 
conscientious  use  of  the  means  of  scholar- 
ship, in  a  spirit  of  intellectual  freedom  not 
restrained  by  ecclesiastical  authority,  and 
with  reverence  suitable  in  those  who  are  deal- 
ing with  the  materials  of  a  Divine  revelation. 


2IO  THE   CONSTRUCTIVE   OFFICE 

It  seeks  to  advance  beyond  all  partisan  and 
sectarian  accentuations  of  specific  parts  of  the 
Biblical  content,  and,  without  controversy,  to 
set  forth  the  universal  elements  of  that  world- 
religion,  which,  evolved  through  preparatory 
stages  of  Jewish  monotheism,  attained  com- 
pleteness in  the  Incarnation  of  the  Son  of 
God,  in  His  Life,  Death  and  Resurrection, 
and  in  the  apostolic  consciousness  through 
which  His  Person  and  Work  were  interpreted 
in  the  terms  of  Christian  experience. 

It  is  important  to  observe  what  considera- 
tions are  involved  in  the  claim  of  criticism 
that  direct  access  to  the  Bible  is  both  a  right 
and  a  duty.  Biblical  criticism  stands  for  the 
unrestricted  privilege  of  investigation  into 
whatsoever,  from  any  point  of  view,  concerns 
our  religion,  and  its  documentary  and  his- 
torical sources.  Its  thesis  is:  ''There  is 
nothing  covered  that  shall  not  be  revealed, 
nor  hid  that  shall  not  be  made  known."  It 
summons  to  its  aid  all  the  resources  of  the 
intellect,  all  the  treasures  of  human  knowl- 
edge ;  it  claims  right  of  way  over  every  track 
of  science,  into  every  storehouse  of  facts.     It 


OF   BIBLICAL   CRITICISIVI  211 

believes  that  investigation,  so  far  from  being 
incompatible  with  reverence,  may  be  an  act 
of  worship  ;  that  the  toil  of  the  scholar  may 
be  as  sacred  as  the  ministration  of  the  priest. 

Biblical  criticism  represents  the  effort  of 
the  investigator  to  come  personally  near  to 
truth  and  to  receive  those  self-evidencing  im- 
pressions which  are  recorded  by  truth  when 
brought  directly  to  bear  upon  the  seeker  after 
it.  It  involves  the  sacred  duty  of  receiving  the 
impact  of  the  Biblical  content  immediately 
upon  the  field  of  personal  consciousness,  that 
the  reason,  the  conscience,  the  will  may  bear 
their  witness,  as  divinely  implanted  organs 
of  discernment,  answering  to  the  divinely 
given  Revelation. 

Biblical  criticism  implies  the  obligation  to 
permit  nothing  to  stand  between  the  inquir- 
ing spirit  of  man  and  the  Word  of  God.  It 
cannot  recognize  churchly  authority  if  that 
authority,  as  in  the  earlier  Roman  mode,  un- 
dertakes to  check  investigation  and  to  impose 
compulsory  interpretation.  It  cannot  be 
satisfied  to  adopt  confessional  declarations 
about  the  Bible  and  its  content  as  substitutes 


212  THE   CONSTRUCTIVE  OFFICE 

for  personal  acquaintance  with  the  sources 
and  personal  assurance  of  their  teaching. 
Every  barrier  raised  before  Holy  Scripture 
must  give  way ;  and  one  must  stand  un- 
fettered and  unembarrassed  in  the  presence 
of  the  oracles  of  God,  assured  that  whatso- 
ever is  of  the  truth  shall  attest  itself  as  the 
revelation  of  God  ;  and  whatsoever  is  of  man, 
beset  with  human  infirmity  and  error,  shall 
not,  by  any  possibility,  impair,  vitiate,  dis- 
credit or  becloud  the  eternal  and  indefectible 
truth. 

The  elements  here  enumerated,  as  defining 
the  claim  of  Biblical  criticism,  represent  the 
most  fundamental  and  most  precious  princi- 
ple of  the  liberty  of  Protestants,  which  is, 
right  of  access  to  the  sources  of  truth  and  of 
private  judgment  in  its  interpretation.  This 
was  what  Luther  and  the  reformers  contended 
for,  as  against  the  demand  of  the  Church  to 
have  the  custody  of  the  truth,  to  retain  the 
prescriptive  right  to  announce  by  authority 
the  interpretation  of  the  truth,  for  the  guid- 
ance of  the  common  mind,  and  to  set  the 
interpretation  issued  by  the  Church,  between 


OF  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM  213 

the  Bible  and  the  people.  The  reformers 
successfully  vindicated  their  principle ;  but, 
as  time  passed  on,  a  new  authority  grew  up 
in  Protestantism,  standing  between  the  Bible 
and  the  people  ;  namely,  the  authoritative 
interpretations  of  Scripture  contained  in  the 
denominational  catechisms  and  confessions ; 
together  with  the  unofficial,  yet  not  less  bind- 
ing, consensus  of  current  opinion  about  the 
Bible,  its  structure,  its  verbal  inspiration,  the 
coequal  authority  and  value  of  all  its  parts. 
Of  these  deliverances  and  opinions  I  speak 
with  the  greatest  possible  reverence.  They 
were  genuine  ;  noble  ;  necessary.  They  rep- 
resented the  state  of  knowledge  and  belief  at 
various  stages  in  the  evolution  of  Protestant- 
ism. But,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  these 
deliverances  and  these  opinions  could  not  be 
final.  As  knowledge  grows,  as  the  ever- 
present  Spirit  of  God  works  in  the  minds  of 
men,  all  official  deliverances  and  all  popular 
opinions  concerning  Scripture  call  for  review 
and  restatement ;  not  necessarily  as  requiring 
correction,  and  not,  assuredly,  as  casting  dis- 
credit on  those  who  promulgated  them,  but 


214  THE   CONSTRUCTIVE   OFFICE 

that  belief  and  the  expression  of  it  may  con- 
tinuously retain  reality,  as  actual  interpreta- 
tions of  eternal  truth.  It  is  the  most  cher- 
ished treasure  of  Protestantism  that  we  are 
not  bound  by  decrees  of  councils,  but  walk 
in  the  liberty  of  the  Spirit  in  the  holy  garden 
of  the  truth.  It  is  the  most  hallowed  incentive 
to  the  Christianization  of  others  that  we  our- 
selves have  received  fresh,  immediate  visions 
of  the  essence  of  our  religion,  so  that  with 
the  Samaritans  we  can  say,  "  Now  we  believe, 
for  we  have  heard  Him  ourselves  and  know 
that  this  is  indeed  the  Saviour  of  the  World." 
Therefore,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  we  must 
always  be  going  back  to  the  sources  of  our 
religion  ;  always  be  studying  those  sources 
in  the  light  of  new  knowledge  ;  always  be 
receiving,  in  our  own  consciousness,  fresh  as- 
surance of  the  inspiration,  the  authority,  the 
sanctity  of  the  Biblical  revelation.  And  our 
guarantee  that  this  liberty  of  movement,  this 
advance  in  knowledge  and  restatement  of 
opinion,  shall  not  lead  to  individualism  and 
loss  of  the  common  truth,  must  be  the  abiding 
Spirit  of  God,  whose  function  it  is  to  protect, 


OF  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM  215 

as  well  as  to  illumine,  the  sources  of  faith. 
Apparently  there  are  but  two  logical  methods 
of  procedure  :  to  allow,  and  to  rejoice  in,  this 
free  access  to  the  Bible  and  this  liberty  of  in- 
terpretation, regarding  the  standards  of  the 
Church  as  ever  open  for  amendment  and 
restatement ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  to  place 
between  the  individual  mind  and  the  Bible 
the  authority  of  a  church  as  the  of^cial 
interpreter  of  Scripture,  with  power  to  bind 
the  reason  and  conscience  of  the  individual. 
The  religious  history  of  the  last  sixty  years 
is  full  of  impressive  illustrations  of  the  play 
of  these  two  ideas ;  none  more  impressive 
than  that  presented  by  the  earlier  and  later 
Oriel  schools  at  Oxford.  From  the  former 
spoke  the  voices  of  Thomas  Arnold,  Henry 
Hart  Milman,  Richard  Whately,  contending 
that  the  authority  and  the  glory  of  Scripture 
are  not  in  the  inerrancy  of  the  letter  but  in 
the  self-evidencing  divinity  of  the  content, 
mediated  by  the  Holy  Spirit  to  the  under- 
standing and  the  affections  of  believers  ;  re- 
quiring not  the  external  sanction  of  the 
Church.     From  the  later  Oriel  school  came 


2l6  THE   CONSTRUCTIVE   OFFICE 

the  impassioned  answers  of  Hurrell  Froude, 
Edward  Bouverie  Pusey,  John  Henry  New- 
man and  their  brilUant  associates,  reprobating- 
the  principle  of  Protestant  Uberty  in  the  use 
of  Scripture  and  invoking  the  Church  as  the 
divinely  appointed  interpreter  of  the  sacred 
oracles.  Newman  alone,  of  the  later  school, 
was  consistent.  As  he  had  begun  by  op- 
posing the  liberty  of  Biblical  criticism  claimed 
by  the  earlier  Oriel  school,  and  as  he  insisted 
on  putting  his  trust  in  the  authority  of  eccle- 
siastical antiquity  rather  than  in  the  self- 
evidencing  authority  of  the  living  truth,  he 
followed,  wdth  noble  sincerity,  the  logic  of  his 
own  convictions,  yielding  submission  to  the 
most  venerable  Representative  of  authority 
and  surrendering  his  right  of  private  judg- 
ment to  the  Holy  Mother  Church.  It  is  by  a 
study  of  the  points  of  view  of  Thomas  Ar- 
nold and  John  Henry  Newman  that  one 
may  gain  insight  into  the  fundamental  ques- 
tion at  issue.  The  life-principle  of  Protest- 
antism is  involved  in  the  claim  of  Biblical 
criticism. 

If  the  claim  of  Biblical  criticism  has  now 


OF  BIBLICAL   CRITICISM  21 7 

been  sufficiently  defined,  as  the  right  and  duty 
of  the  exercise  of  judgment  in  the  pursuit 
of  truth,  we  may  proceed  to  examine  the 
fmuidations  of  criticism.  On  what  founda- 
tions rests  this  claim,  which,  to  many,  seems 
the  most  sacred  of  all  claims,  taking  prece- 
dence of  all  other  considerations  in  the  field 
of  intelligent  and  productive  religious  think- 
ing ?  The  foundations  are  partly  intellectual 
and  philosophical ;  partly  moral  and  religious. 
The  intellectual  and  philosophical  founda- 
tions underlying  the  sacred  duty  of  Biblical 
criticism  are  identical  with  the  ultimate  con- 
clusions of  Protestant  thought  touching  the 
sanctity  of  the  human  reason,  the  unity  of 
the  field  of  knowledge,  the  nature  of  au- 
thority. 

It  is  an  inherent  part  of  the  Protestant 
spirit  to  reverence  the  reason,  with  its  powers 
of  investigation,  discernment,  analysis,  esti- 
mation of  values,  judicial  determination.  It 
appears  to  be  evidently  the  gift  of  God — one 
might  say,  the  reflection  of  God  in  ourselves. 
It  is  the  image  and  superscription  of  the 
Creator  impressed  upon  the  creature ;  a  holy 


2l8  THE   CONSTRUCTIVE   OFFICE 

power,  the  basis  of  communion  with  God. 
The  Spirit  of  God  is  the  Spirit  of  wisdom  and 
counsel  and  understanding.  The  spirit  of 
man  is  the  candle  of  the  Lord,  a  lesser  light 
emerging  from  the  Eternal  Light,  being  of  the 
same  substance,  partaking  of  the  same  quali- 
ties. The  Spirit  of  God  works  through  the 
spirit  of  man,  nourishing  the  powers  of  dis- 
cernment, illuminating  the  understanding, 
guiding  the  judgment.  Even  so  said  Christ: 
"  When  the  Spirit  of  Truth  is  come,  He  shall 
guide  you  into  all  the  truth."  ^  This  is  the  true 
mysticism  of  Christianity,  as  distinguished 
from  all  mysticism  that  has  moved  away  from 
rational  lines,  into  the  regions  of  ecstasy. 
Christian  mysticism  is  the  direct  contact  of 
the  rational  man  with  the  mind  of  God ;  the 
consecration  of  reason  by  its  Eternal  Author ; 
the  Divine  guidance  of  thought.  Hence  the 
relation  of  reason  to  faith,  in  the  mind  of  true 
Protestantism.  Reason  is  not  a  substitute 
for  faith  nor  a  foe  to  faith.  Faith  is  not  blind 
obedience  to  external  authority.  Faith  is  the 
highest  exercise  of  intelligence,  the  sublimest 

1  Jolin  i6  :  13. 


OF   BIBLICAL  CRITICISM  219 

development  of  reason  ;  faith  is  the  function 
of  judgment  carried  up  to  the  highest  power; 
it  is  the  ''  will  to  believe."  The  Bible  is  the 
noblest  and  most  legitimate  object  on  which 
this  holy  power  may  exercise  itself.  It  is  its 
normal  field  and  province.  Devout  criticism, 
the  exercise  of  judgment  in  the  pursuit  of 
truth,  is  an  act  as  spiritual  as  prayer. 

The  unity  of  the  field  of  knowledge  offers 
another  consideration  on  which  the  claim  of 
Biblical  criticism  rests.  The  Bible  is  not  to 
be  considered  as  a  field  of  thought  marked 
off  from  other  thought  by  impassible  barriers  ; 
it  is  not  a  sanctuary  covered,  like  Israel's 
tabernacle,  with  veils  of  separation  that  se- 
clude it  from  the  common  paths  of  men,  and 
render  it  inaccessible  to  ordinary  approaches. 
He  who  reveals  Himself  in  the  Bible  is  the 
same  that  has  revealed,  and  is  revealing,  Him- 
self in  every  other  department  of  knowledge. 
There  can  be  no  contradictions  in  that  vast 
self-revelation.  The  Bible  needs  no  protec- 
tion against  science.  Its  content  needs  no 
adventitious  support  as  from  a  theory  of 
verbal  inerrancy.    The  fallibility  of  the  docu- 


220  THE   CONSTRUCTIVE    OFFICE 

ments  affects  in  no  wise  their  self-evidencing 
authority  as  a  channel  of  the  self-disclosure 
of  Him  who  speaks  also  in  the  universe  of 
physical  nature,  in  the  sanctuary  of  the  human 
spirit,  in  the  solemn  movement  of  the  evolu- 
tionary order,  and,  supremely,  in  the  Person 
of  the  Incarnate  Son.  Well  said  one  mem- 
ber of  that  prophetic  circle  of  the  early  Oriel 
school :  "  As  we  must  not  dare  to  withhold 
or  disguise  revealed  religious  truth,  so 
we  must  dread  the  progress  of  no  other 
truth.  We  must  not  imitate  [those]  who 
imprisoned  Galileo ;  and  step  forward,  Bible 
in  hand,  to  check  the  inquiries  of  the  geolo- 
gist, the  astronomer,  or  the  political-econo- 
mist, from  an  apprehension  that  the  cause  of 
religion  can  be  endangered  by  them.  Any 
theory,  on  whatever  subject,  that  is  really 
sound,  can  never  be  inimical  to  a  religion 
founded  on  truth  ;  and  any  that  is  unsound 
may  be  refuted  by  arguments  drawn  from  ob- 
servation and  experiment,  without  calling  in 
the  aid  of  revelation.  .  .  .  The  part  of  a 
lover  of  truth  is  to  follow  her  at  all  seeming 
hazards,  after  the  example  of  Him  who  came 


OF  BIBLICAL   CRITICISM  221 

into  the  world  that  He  might  bear  witness  to 
the  truth."  ' 

Biblical  criticism  rests  also  on  certain  ulti- 
mate convictions  concerning  the  nature  of  the 
criteria,  credentials  and  seat  of  authority  that 
are  in  accord  with  the  genius  of  the  Protes- 
tant ideal.  Beyond  doubt  it  is  true  that  the 
aposdes  of  intellectual  liberty  have  not 
always  been  safe  guides.  In  the  name  of 
those  valid  principles,  "the  freedom  of  the 
Spirit"  and  ''liberty  of  prophesying,"  ex- 
tremists have  subverted  truth,  confused  the 
mind  of  the  average,  and  committed  specu- 
lative absurdities.  Nevertheless  the  princi- 
ples, of  which  they  were  the  momentary  and 
inadequate  representatives,  abide  forever, 
and  in  every  age  reassert  themselves  spon- 
taneously in  the  Christian  consciousness. 
Great  blessings  have  come  through  the  or- 
ganized authority  of  the  Church,  blessings 
apparently  unattainable  in  other  ways.  The 
occupation  of  territory,  the  continued  main- 
tenance of  works,  the  moral  impressiveness 

iWhately,  "Essay  on  TAe  L(we  of  Truth,''  6th  Edition, 
p.34sq. 


222  THE   CONSTRUCTIVE   OFFICE 

of  venerable  institutions,  the  correction  of 
disorders,  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  are 
fruits  of  organized  authority.  Nor  is  it  less 
certain  that  faith,  vital  and  ample,  has  been 
protected  and  advanced  by  the  regulative 
action  of  ecclesiastical  authority.  Neverthe- 
less the  paradox  of  history  stands  ;  it  is  also 
true,  and,  at  some  periods,  conspicuously 
true  that  the  progress  of  religion  has  been 
arrested  and  the  knowledge  of  the  Bible  re- 
stricted, not  to  say  perverted,  by  the  interpo- 
sition between  the  minds  of  men  and  the 
gracious  Word  of  God,  of  systems  of  author- 
ity that  were  self-assertive  rather  than  di- 
vinely appointed,  contradictory  rather  than 
homogeneous.  The  fundamental  interest  of 
Biblical  criticism  is  truth.  The  fundamental 
interest  of  ecclesiastical  authority  is  the 
maintenance  of  the  status  quo.  Therefore  it 
is  of  the  very  essence  of  the  critical  principle 
to  challenge  every  authority,  whether  of  the 
organized  Church,  or  of  tradition,  or  of  pop- 
ular opinion  standing  as  the  interpreter  or 
custodian  of  Biblical  truth,  requiring  every 
such  authority  to  show  cause  why  we  may 


OF   BIBLICAL   CRITICISM  223 

not  commit  ourselves  directly  to  the  Word 
itself  and  to  the  Spirit  who  breathes  and 
shines  therein.  True  criticism  believes  in 
the  value  of  ecclesiastical  authority  for  the 
promotion  of  order  and  the  doing  of  work, 
but  not  as  an  intermediary  between  the 
sources  of  truth  and  those  who,  in  the 
freedom  of  the  Spirit,  would  seek  them  for 
themselves  and  reveal  them  to  others. 

The  moral  and  religious  foundations  un- 
derlying the  sacred  duty  of  Biblical  criticism 
are  not  less  interesting  than  those  more 
distinctively  intellectual  and  philosophical. 
They  involve  our  conceptions  of  the  morality 
of  truth ;  of  the  obligation  to  seek  it  for  our- 
selves ;  of  the  sanctifying  effect  of  truth  thus 
sought  and  found  ;  and  of  the  immediateness 
of  God,  in  cooperation  with  one  entirely 
committed  to  the  sway  of  truth. 

The  morality  of  truth  is  an  inherent  prop- 
erty. Truth  is  fact.  It  is  the  thing  that  is. 
In  the  sources  of  a  religion  that  comes  from  a 
Holy  God,  there  can  be  nothing  but  fact. 
Fiction,  error,  delusion  can  be  no  part  of  the 
Christian  religion.     To  arrive  at  truth  is  to 


224  THE   CONSTRUCTIVE   OFFICE 

be  emancipated  from  these.  **  Ye  shall  know 
the  truth,"  is  our  Lord's  promise,  ''and  the 
truth  shall  make  you  free."  ^  The  most  ven- 
erable, most  cherished  error,  if,  by  the  ad- 
vance of  knowledge,  it  be  proved  to  be  error, 
is  to  be  cast  away  with  relief  and  gladness  as 
an  alien  thing,  having  no  part  in  that  with 
which,  by  tradition  or  by  current  opinion,  it 
has  been  associated.  God  is  light  and  in 
Him  is  no  darkness  at  all.  This  is  the  mo- 
rality of  truth.  Hence  we  need  no  interven- 
ing authority  between  us  and  the  Bible ;  for 
that  which  is  not  true  ought  not  to  be  sus- 
tained by  authority  of  the  Church,  and  that 
which  is  true  needs  not  to  be  so  sustained, 
but  is  self-demonstrating  and  self-sustain- 
ing. 

The  obligation  to  seek  truth  for  ourselves 
is  a  part  of  the  moral  incentive  of  Biblical 
criticism.  The  attitude  of  the  student,  con- 
secrating his  rational  powers  to  the  study  of 
the  thoughts  of  God,  is  an  appropriate  atti- 
tude. If  God  has  been  pleased  to  reveal 
Himself  through  holy  oracles,  it  is  the  duty 

1  John  8:  32. 


OF  BIBLICAL   CRITICISM  225 

of  every  mind,  according  to  its  gifts,  to 
**read,  mark,  learn,  and  inwardly  digest*' 
the  Divine  message.  ''Speak,  Lord,  for 
Thy  servant  heareth,"  represents  the  attitude 
of  devout  scholarship  no  less  than  the  mind 
of  childlike  faith.  To  substitute  for  the  per- 
sonal authority  of  conviction  the  impersonal 
authority  of  the  churchly  declaration  is  to 
imperil  the  reality  of  faith  as  well  as  to 
diminish  its  joy.  Moreover  the  history  of 
declaratory  authority  is  not  a  self-consistent 
history.  The  passion  of  controversy,  the 
dimness  of  ignorance,  the  overshadowing  of 
local  environments,  the  masterful  diplomacy 
of  leadership,  the  chances  of  numbers  have 
had  much  to  do  with  the  theological  deliver- 
ances of  churches.  The  safeguarding  of  our 
own  integrity  as  believers  requires  us  to  go 
back  of  all  confessional  statements  and,  by 
direct  access  to  the  sources  of  truth,  to  frame 
for  ourselves  a  reason  for  the  hope  that  is 
in  us. 

The  sanctifying  efTect  of  truth  thus  sought 
and  found  constitutes  another  moral  founda- 
tion   of   criticism.     In   the   First   Epistle   of 


226  THE   CONSTRUCTIVE   OFFICE 

Peter  ^  occurs  a  splendid  reference  to  the 
ethical  effect  of  finding  out  truth  for  oneself, 
consciously  holding  it,  fervently  obeying  it; 
"  Ye  have  purified  your  souls  in  obeying  the 
truth."  Intellectual  sincerity  is  a  tonic  ad- 
ministered to  the  moral  system,  a  purgation 
of  the  soul.  So  long  as  religious  conceptions 
are  held  or  preached  with  a  view  to  main- 
taining orthodoxy,  the  anxiety  to  receive 
official  sanction  may  gradually  undermine 
intellectual  and  moral  sincerity,  and  must 
surely  destroy  the  vivacity  and  courage  that 
are  brought  to  the  soul  by  its  commitment  to 
truth  that  has  been  investigated  at  first  hand 
and  certified  by  direct  experience.  It  is 
truth  so  gained  and  so  assimilated  that  has 
power  not  merely  to  stimulate  the  intellect 
but  also  to  regulate  the  conscience  and  to 
control  the  will. 

The  immediateness  of  God,  in  cooperation 
with  one  entirely  committed  to  the  sway  of 
truth,  is,  perhaps,  the  deepest  foundation  of 
devout  criticism.  Belief  in  the  Holy  Spirit, 
whom  Christ   called  the  *' Spirit  of  Truth," 

>  I  Peter  i :  22. 


OF  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM  227 

lies  at  the  root  of  true  criticism.  He  is  the 
Sanctifier  and  Certifier  of  the  understanding. 
He  abides  in  the  Word,  permeating  it  with 
eternal  vitality,  defending  it  from  the  corro- 
sion of  untruth.  He  abides  also  in  the  mind 
of  the  reverent  and  fearless  student  of  the 
Word,  making  demonstration  of  its  integrity, 
convincing  of  its  authority,  bringing  the 
assurance  of  faith.  Undisturbed  by  marks 
of  fallibility  in  the  documents,  devout  criti- 
cism advances  in  the  communion  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  who,  safeguarding,  glorifying,  open- 
ing the  oracles,  uses  the  agencies  of  scholar- 
ship to  dispel  error,  correct  misunderstanding, 
vindicate  and  exhibit  the  indefectible  sub- 
stance of  revelation. 

Thus  far,  in  this  Lecture,  I  have  considered 
our  subject  in  the  abstract,  dwelling  upon  the 
claim  of  devout  Biblical  criticism  and  the 
foundations  supporting  that  claim.  I  would 
now  speak  of  the  spirit  and  outcome  of  some 
of  the  critical  movements  of  our  time.  We 
cannot  understand  the  significance  of  the 
time  in  which  we  are  living,  if  we  refuse  to 
take   note   of   the   presence   of   these    great 


228  THE   CONSTRUCTIVE   OFFICE 

movements  of  critical  thought ;  which,  while 
unlike  one  another  in  many  respects,  are  alike 
in  this :  they  represent  the  claim  of  thought- 
ful men  to  possess  the  right  of  direct  access 
to  the  Bible,  and  private  judgment  in  its  in- 
terpretation. We  know  that  wise  and  good 
people  differ  as  to  the  good  or  evil  effects  of 
these  movements.  Some  noble  souls  resist 
them  with  all  the  energy  of  conscience,  re- 
garding them  as  tending  to  impair  the 
authority  of  Holy  Scripture.  Others,  per- 
haps not  less  noble  and  sincere,  rejoice  in 
them,  as  bringing  a  more  glorious  authority 
to  Scripture,  an  authority  not  derived  from 
ecclesiastical  deliverances,  but  inherent  and 
self-evidencing.  Few  thoughtful  persons  will 
be  found  who  ignore  these  movements  as 
unimportant. 

To  those  who  study  them  in  the  light  of 
the  whole  evolution  of  religious  thinking  in 
the  nineteenth  century,  they  appear  to  be  in 
the  highest  sense  symptomatic  and  signifi- 
cant. They  are,  especially  in  England  and 
America,  a  part  of  a  great  body  of  unorgan- 
ized sentiment,  to  be  found  in  every  denom- 


OF  BIBLICAL   CRITICISM  229 

ination,  in  every  university,  in  every  seat  of 
scholarly  learning.  An  impression  prevails 
that  we  have  arrived  at  the  threshold  of  a 
new  age,  wherein  the  former  ruling  of  secta- 
rian opinion  by  the  objective  authority  of 
confessional  standards  no  longer  satisfies  the 
demand  of  many  devout  minds  for  a  basis  of 
faith  and  union.  There  is  no  hostility  to 
standards  as  such,  as  convenient  vehicles  for 
the  local  expression  of  religious  sentiment,  but 
there  is  a  deep  sense  of  their  inadequacy  to 
meet  the  new  conditions  of  thought.  A  new 
consensus  of  opinion  and  desire  is  develop- 
ing, not  antagonizing  the  sectarian  status  quo 
but  rising  above  it,  reaching  out  beyond  it, 
drawing  together  in  a  larger  brotherhood  of 
the  Spirit  those  for  whom  the  future  with  its 
problems  seems  more  vital  and  pressing  than 
the  conservation  of  the  sectarian  differentia. 
The  common  object  of  interest  for  this  widen- 
ing brotherhood  of  the  Spirit  is  the  Bible,  and 
its  relation  to  the  new  science,  the  new  phi- 
losophy, the  new  social  ideals.  There  is  no 
special  desire  to  obliterate  sectarian  lines,  or 
to  disturb  the  historical  divisions  of  Protes- 


230  THE   CONSTRUCTIVE   OFFICE 

tant  Christendom  which  afford  an  admirable 
basis  for  the  distribution  of  effort ;  but  there 
is  a  very  deep  conviction  that  the  Christian 
consciousness  must  be  reHeved  of  artificial 
restriction  in  religious  thinking  and  that  old 
theological  contentions  may  rightfully  be 
forgotten  in  the  face  of  enormous  oppor- 
tunities to  adjust  the  new  intellectual  con- 
ditions to  the  eternal  and  unchangeable 
Revelation  of  God  in  Christ.  Such  is  the 
deeper  meaning  of  the  critical  movements  of 
our  time.  All  of  them,  the  most  radical  and 
the  most  reverent  alike,  represent  stirrings 
and  questionings  in  many  hearts  that  are 
looking  (some,  it  may  be,  vaguely  and  un- 
consciously), for  that  next  great  reinterpreta- 
tion  of  the  idea  of  the  Church,  wherein  the 
Bible,  seen  and  investigated  and  understood 
in  the  light  of  the  latest  advance  of  knowl- 
edge and  the  ripest  development  of  Christian 
experience,  shall  display  to  the  reason  and 
conscience  of  the  twentieth  century  the  uni- 
versal elements  of  the  Christian  religion. 
This  profound  sentiment  has  not  been  cre- 
ated suddenly.     It  is  no  fanciful  product  of 


OF  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM  231 

restless  modernity.  It  has  been  gathering 
volume  and  depth  and  self-realization  for  a 
hundred  years.  If  I  were  asked  to  mention 
the  one  name  in  the  annals  of  English 
thought  most  nearly  associated  with  the 
initial  stage  of  this  movement,  I  would  with- 
out hesitation  name  that  poet,  prophet, 
mystic  and  leader  of  creative  religious  think- 
ing, Samuel  Taylor  Coleridge.  In  his  "Aids 
to  Reflection,"  and,  still  more  completely,  in 
his  **  Confessions  of  an  Inquiring  Spirit," 
Coleridge  put  into  words  the  latent  yearning 
of  many  English  hearts  for  a  system  of  relig- 
ious thinking,  founded  more  completely  upon 
truth  and  less  dependent  on  external  author- 
ity. It  seemed  to  him  that  a  certain  un- 
reality was  clinging  like  a  mist  around  the 
denominational  systems ;  that  they  were 
gradually  becoming  barriers  to  the  advanc- 
ing knowledge  of  the  truth ;  that  they  were 
undertaking  to  bind  the  reason  and  con- 
science to  fixed  moments  of  the  past,  and  to 
give  an  unqualified  absoluteness  to  certain 
provisional  and  imperfect  interpretations  of 
Christianity,  as  against  the  eternal  progress- 


232  THE  CONSTRUCTIVE   OFFICE 

iveness  of  Divine  Self-revelation,  and  the 
boundless  capacity  of  the  human  mind  to 
assimilate  new  aspects  of  that  self-revelation. 
Coleridge  dreaded  the  arrest  of  develop- 
ment which  threatens  Christian  thought 
when  ecclesiastical  orthodoxy  is  elevated 
above  truth.  His  position  is  substantially 
stated  in  his  twenty-fifth  aphorism  in  the 
''  Aids  to  Refiection."  "  He,  who  begins  by 
loving  Christianity  better  than  truth,  will 
proceed  by  loving  his  own  sect  or  church 
better  than  Christianity,  and  end  in  loving 
himself  better  than  all."  The  book  itself  is  a 
wonderful  prophecy  of  the  yearning  for  real- 
ity that  breathes  through  the  strongest  relig- 
ious thinking  of  to-day.  TuUoch's  charac- 
terization is  just :  ^  "  It  is  a  book  which  none 
but  a  thinker  on  Divine  things  will  ever  like. 
It  is  such  a  book  as  all  such  thinkers  have 
prized.  To  many  it  has  given  a  new  force  of 
religious  insight,  while,  for  its  time,  beyond 
all  doubt,  it  created  a  real  epoch  in  Christian 
thought.     It  had  life  in  it ;    and  the  living 

^  Movemetits  of  Religious  Thought  in   the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury, p.  9. 


OF  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM  233 

seed,    scattered    and    desultory   as    it  was, 
brought  forth  fruit  in  many  minds." 

The  same  words  might  be  used  of  that 
other  and  later  work  of  Coleridge :  "  The 
Confessions  of  an  Inquiring  Spirit."  It  con- 
sisted of  seven  letters  to  a  friend,  on  the  in- 
spiration of  the  Scriptures.  The  manuscript 
was  left  by  Mr.  Coleridge,  unpublished,  at 
his  death.  In  it,  as  his  kinsman,  Henry 
Nelson  Coleridge,  pointed  out,  one  finds  a 
summary  of  his  views  on  Biblical  criticism, 
and  an  affectionate,  pious  and  wise  attempt 
to  place  the  study  of  the  Written  Word  on  its 
only  sure  foundation — a  deep  sense  of  God's 
holiness  and  truth,  and  a  consequent  rever- 
ence for  that  light — the  image  of  Himself — 
which  He  has  kindled  in  every  one  of  His 
rational  creatures.  The  key-note  of  the  vol- 
ume was  the  supremacy  of  the  Bible  as  a 
divinely  inspired  literature  ;  and  the  certainty 
that  the  real  credential  of  that  divine  inspira- 
tion is  not  verbal  inerrancy,  nor  the  official 
declarations  of  any  church,  but  the  tremen- 
dous utterance  from  within  it,  of  the  voice  of 
the   Spirit  of   God.     He  saw  that  it  was  a 


234  THE   CONSTRUCTIVE   OFFICE 

Book  above  all  other  books,  "in  which  deep 
answers  unto  deep,  and  our  inmost  thoughts 
and  most  hidden  griefs  find  not  merely  re- 
sponse but  guidance  and  assuagement."  "  In 
the  Bible,"  he  says,  "there  is  more  that _finds 
me  than  I  have  experienced  in  all  other  books 
put  together ;  the  words  of  the  Bible  find  me 
at  greater  depths  of  my  being ;   and  what- 
ever Jinds  me  brings  with  it  an  irresistible 
evidence   of  its  having  proceeded  from  the 
Holy  Spirit."  ^     In  sentiments  like  these  one 
finds  the  clue  to  that  gathering  volume  of 
feeling  and  conviction  which  has  organized 
itself    into   the   several   schools   of    Biblical 
criticism.     It  is  to  be  feared  that  many  who 
have  viewed  these  movements  with  hostility 
have  not  fully  taken  into  account  the  moral 
and  religious  urgency  by  which  they  have 
been   impelled.     Biblical   criticism  has  been 
regarded    often    as    a   non-religious   move- 
ment of  scholarship  ;  coldly  scientific ;  without 
reverence ;  intolerant ;  self-complacent.    With- 
out doubt  the  spirit  of  some  of  its  representa- 
tives has  justified  these  animadversions.     It 

1  Letter  II,  p.  296,  Ed.  London,  1904,  Geo.  Bell  and  Co. 


OF  BIBLICAL   CRITICISM  235 

was  inevitable  that,  in  the  spread  of  such  a 
movement,  in  its  fascination  for  scholars  as 
opening  new  fields  of  investigation,  in  its 
temptations  for  men  of  radical  temper  to 
break  away  from  all  restraints  of  traditional 
opinion  and  to  indulge  in  the  wildest  flights 
of  individualism,  much  should  appear  that 
was  regrettable  from  every  point  of  view,  and 
that  was  horrifying  and  shocking  to  those  ac- 
customed to  regard  the  Bible  with  reverence, 
as  the  very  Word  of  God.  I  do  not  for  a 
moment  attempt  to  conceal  or  to  divert  at- 
tention from  such  Biblical  criticism  as  has 
appeared  to  be  lacking  in  seriousness,  or 
needlessly  radical,  or  wantonly  destructive. 
I  do  not  attempt  to  conceal  the  pain  and 
regret  that  I  have  felt  by  reason  of  the  rude 
and  careless  handling  of  Holy  Scripture  by 
some  whose  lack  of  reverence  was  conspicu- 
ous, and  whose  indifference  to  the  historic 
proprieties,  and  to  the  sensibilities  of  Chris- 
tian believers  was  all  but  gross.  But  I  re- 
gard such  infelicities  as  a  part  of  that  neces- 
sary evil  which  attends  the  advance  of  good. 
It  was  inevitable  that  there  should  spring  up 


236  THE   CONSTRUCTIVE   OFFICE 

representatives  of  the  shallowness  and  in- 
congruity that  attend  the  handling  of  great 
subjects  by  those  who  have  forgotten  their 
greatness.  But  such  criticism  can  have  no 
effect  to  the  detriment  of  Holy  Scripture.  It 
vanishes  with  the  immediate  influence  of  its 
authors,  as  the  smaller  waves  slip  back  into 
the  sea,  from  the  calm  brow  of  the  impreg- 
nable rock.  The  real  movement  of  Biblical 
criticism  is  marked  by  an  intense  moral  obli- 
gation, religious  reverence  and  desire  for  the 
supremacy  of  Divine  Revelation  that  impart 
to  its  leaders  the  seriousness  of  prophets,  the 
awe  of  priests.  It  is  a  movement  that  per- 
petuates the  spirit  of  Coleridge,  that  is  in- 
spired with  a  passionate  devotion  like  his, 
that  counts  all  things  but  loss  for  the  excel- 
lency of  the  knowledge  of  the  Divine  Word, 
the  source  and  casket  of  the  universal  ele- 
ments of  the  Christian  religion.  It  is  a  move- 
ment built  upon  the  philosophical  and  relig- 
ious foundations  that  we  have  been  consider- 
ing in  the  earlier  part  of  this  Lecture.  It  is  a 
movement  that  represents  the  vital  principle 
of    Protestantism ;    the    right   and    duty    of 


OF  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM  237 

Christians  to  gain  direct  access  to  the 
Bible,  and  to  bring  to  bear  upon  it  all  the 
resources  of  the  intellect  and  of  the  spirit. 
It  is  a  movement  that  has  grown  up  in  the 
hearts  of  devout  men  simultaneously  with 
their  desire  for  a  more  simple  and  homogene- 
ous interpretation  of  the  Church  and  of  the 
religion  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  a  constructive 
movement.  It  may  have  been  its  duty  to 
oppose  or  to  remove  conceptions  that  had 
accumulated  between  the  Bible  and  those 
who  longed  to  feel  the  reality  of  its  revela- 
tion ;  but,  for  the  Bible  itself,  the  movement 
of  devout  criticism  is  in  the  highest  sense 
constructive.  Like  every  movement  mediated 
through  fallible  men,  its  methods  of  pro- 
cedure and  its  modes  of  expression  may  oft- 
times  have  lacked  that  thoughtful  tenderness 
for  the  brethren  that  clothed  the  teachings  of 
Christ;  and,  in  the  ardour  of  a  great  pur- 
pose, many  things  may  have  been  said  and 
done  incompatible  with  the  ideal  of  love ;  but 
the  healing  hand  of  time,  and  the  magnanimity 
that  is  born  in  them  that  are  led  by  the  Spirit 
of  God,  have  brought  many  alleviations  and 


238  THE   CONSTRUCTIVE   OFFICE 

have  obliterated  many  misapprehensions. 
The  state  of  knowledge  regarding  the  con- 
tent of  Scripture  was  never  before  so  rich  ; 
the  interest  in  Bible-study  never  before  so 
great ;  the  conception  of  revelation  never  be- 
fore so  intelligent ;  the  sense  of  Biblical  au- 
thority never  before  so  profound.  To-day 
the  Bible  is  a  Book  of  life  and  reality  to 
which  educated  minds  and  inquiring  spirits 
turn  with  an  interest  not  awakened  equally 
by  any  other  object  of  knowledge.  It  is 
difficult  to  realize  the  enormous  changes  that 
have  taken  place  in  the  point  of  view  from 
which  this  Book  of  books  is  regarded.  The 
former  apprehension  that  the  authority  of 
the  Bible  must  be  impaired  if  its  verbal 
inerrancy  were  impugned  has  passed  away 
from  large  sections  of  the  church.  The  fear 
that  the  dignity  of  the  sacred  volume  must 
sufTer,  if  received  opinions  touching  dates 
and  authorship  were  revised,  no  longer  op- 
presses many  hearts  once  sorely  troubled. 
It  has  become  evident  that  the  foundations 
of  Biblical  authority  lie  far  beneath  the  his- 
torical  and   literary   structure   of   the  docu- 


OF  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM  239 

ments ;  and  that  the  revision  of  historical 
and  Hterary  opinion,  far  from  unsettling 
faith  in  revelation,  tends  to  purge  that  faith 
of  fear  and  doubt,  and  to  advance  it  into 
the  region  of  certitude.  The  mind  is  dis- 
abused of  the  harrowing  thought  that  the  va- 
lidity of  an  eternal  revelation  rests  on  the  pre- 
carious basis  of  immunity  from  verbal  imper- 
fection. It  perceives  that  the  commanding 
witness  of  the  truth  resides  in  its  divine  mes- 
sage to  the  moral  reason,  to  the  conscience, 
and  to  the  mysterious  longings  of  the  inner 
soul.  That  this  altered  view  might,  in  the 
fullness  of  time,  come  to  be  the  attitude  of 
Protestants  towards  Holy  Scripture,  has  been 
for  a  hundred  years  the  prayer  of  prophetic 
souls.  They  have  seen  that  anything  less 
than  this  is  incapable  of  effecting  that  vital- 
ization  of  religious  thinking  and  that  apos- 
tolical enthusiasm  for  the  universal  elements 
of  the  Christian  religion  which  must  precede 
a  marked  advance  towards  the  Christianiza- 
tion  of  the  world.  Yet  the  change  had  to 
come  slowly,  under  the  superintendence  of 
the  Divine  Spirit,  and  according  to  the  benef- 


240  THE   CONSTRUCTIVE   OFFICE 

icent  laws  of  growth.  Much  remains  to  be 
accomplished,  but  vast  advances  have  been 
made.  It  is  interesting  to  recall  the  words  of 
one  of  the  most  saintly  of  Scotchmen ;  one 
whose  life  was  spent  in  pondering  the  deep 
things  of  God,  and  who  cherished  beyond  all 
earthly  ambitions  the  desire  that  Christ 
should  be  glorified.  Fifty  years  have  passed 
since  Thomas  Erskine  of  Linlathen  wrote 
thus  to  Bishop  Colenso  :  ^  ''I  agree  with  you 
on  the  meaning  and  purpose  of  authority  in 
all  true  teaching.  I  am  sure  that  so  long 
as  we  believe  anything  that  is  of  the  nature 
of  a  principle  merely  on  outward  authority, 
be  it  the  authority  either  of  God  or  man, 
without  discerning  for  ourselves  its  own 
truth,  we  are  not  really  believing  it.  We 
may  be  believing  the  veracity  and  the  was- 
dom  of  our  informer,  but  we  are  not  believ- 
ing in  the  truth  of  the  thing  he  made  know  n 
to  us,  until  we  discern  that  truth.  If  I  am 
to  be  saved  or  spiritually  healed  by  a  truth,  I 
must   have    my  spirit   brought   into  contact 

*  Letters  of  Thomas  Erskine,  pp.  397-8,  4th  Ed.,  Edinburgh, 
XS84. 


OF  BIBLICAL   CRITICISM  241 

with  the  quality  and  character  and  reality  of 
that  truth,  so  as  to  be  affected  by  it  in  ac- 
cordance with  its  proper  nature — and  any 
faith  which  is  not  fitted  to  do  this  is  not  that 
which  I  need.  The  value  of  the  Bible,  ac- 
cording to  my  reason  and  conscience,  con- 
sists in  what  it  contains — in  the  truth  which 
I  find  in  it — not  in  the  manner  in  which  it 
was  composed."  It  was  in  1858  that  Pro- 
fessor Lorimer  transmitted  to  Mr.  Erskine, 
for  his  opinion,  some  sheets  of  a  volume  on 
the  *'  Inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,"  by  Dr.  John 
Muir,  who  endowed  the  Sanskrit  Chair  in 
the  University  of  Edinburgh^  The  reply 
of  Mr.  Erskine  is  the  word  of  a  prophet, 
gazing  far  into  the  future.  "  It  seems  to 
me,"  he  says,  ^  "  most  important  to  under- 
stand the  place  which  the  Scriptures  really 
occupy,  that  so  we  may  make  the  use  of 
them  which  they  were  intended  to  serve, 
and  be  delivered  from  any  superstitious  feel- 
ings about  them.  This  is  specially  needed 
here  in  Scotland,  where  a  belief  in  the  Bible 
is  often  substituted  for  faith  in  God,  and  a 

^  Letters,  etc.,  pp.  400,  401. 


242  THE   CONSTRUCTIVE   OFFICE 

man  is  considered  religious,  not  because  he 
walks  with  God  in  his  spirit,  but  because  he 
acknowledges  and  maintains  the  verbal  in- 
spiration of  the  sacred  canon.  I  have  seen 
people  brought  up  in  this  way  who  would 
have  felt  their  whole  faith  in  spiritual  things 
annihilated  by  the  discovery  of  any  contra- 
diction or  inaccuracy  in  the  Gospel  history. 
A  faith  of  this  kind,  which  rests  on  igno- 
rance and  is  dispelled  by  knowledge,  is  cer- 
tainly not  the  kind  of  faith  which  we  should 
desire  either  for  ourselves  or  others.  I  agree 
also  with  the  author  of  these  sheets,  that  it  is 
desirable  that  laymen  should  take  up  the 
study  of  the  Scriptures,  as  they  may  be  ex- 
pected to  be  less  fettered  by  prejudice  than 
those  who  have  been  brought  up  within  the 
limits  of  articles  and  confessions  of  faith." 
Then,  as  if  foreseeing  the  infelicity  and 
tactlessness  of  a  certain  type  of  criticism,  he 
adds :  "I  feel  all  this,  but  there  is  another 
principle  which  is  perhaps  liable  to  be  for- 
gotten amidst  such  thoughts,  and  it  is  this, 
that  no  man  can  successfully  study  spiritual 
truth  except  in  a  spirit  of  reverence.     I  be- 


OF   BIBLICAL   CRITICISM  243 

lieve  that  ninety-nine  out  of  a  hundred  of 
the  religious  people  of  Scotland  believe  in 
the  verbal  inspiration  of  the  Bible,  and 
would  have  their  faith  shaken  to  pieces 
by  the  facts  which  your  friend  adduces  in 
those  sheets.  I  should  like  to  see  them  dis- 
abused, but  I  should  like  this  to  be  done  in  a 
way  that  would  transfer  their  faith  from  the 
letter  to  the  spirit,  and  not  destroy  their  faith 
altogether."  In  a  subsequent  letter  to  Pro- 
fessor Lorimer,^  Mr.  Erskine  makes  some 
additional  observations,  which  are  so  full  of 
a  spirit  most  needed  now,  that  I  cannot  for- 
bear to  quote  them.  ''The  character  of  God 
as  a  teaching  Father  who  eternally  desires 
and  seeks  the  holiness  of  His  reasonable 
creatures  seems  to  me  the  great  revelation 
of  the  Bible,  and  the  true  meaning  of 
Christianity.  I  am  prepared  to  hear  any 
criticisms  on  the  Book,  they  do  not  trouble 
me  in  the  least.  I  have  found  a  medicine 
which  heals  me ;  I  have  found  an  omnipotent 
Friend — a  Friend  who  is  the  eternal  enemy 
and   will    be    the   eternal   conqueror,    of   all 

1  Op,  cit.,  pp.  404,  405. 


244  THE   CONSTRUCTIVE   OFFICE 

evil,  and  who  will  neither  spare  Himself 
nor  us  any  suffering  which  may  be  neces- 
sary to  this  result.  This  is  the  pearl  of  great 
price,  which  when  a  man  has  found  he  needs 
not  that  any  other  should  tell  him  its  value,  he 
knows  it  and  feels  it ;  he  does  not  need  any 
evidence  that  this  revelation  of  the  character 
of  God  is  a  true  revelation  ;  he  knows  it 
must  be  true,  or  his  own  existence,  his  own 
consciousness,  is  a  lie.  If  any  textual  emen- 
dations or  any  improved  translation  could 
bring  this  truth  into  clearer  light,  I  should 
welcome  them  with  my  whole  heart.  Even 
without  this  unspeakable  advantage  I  wel- 
come them;  but  I  have  often  been  disap- 
pointed by  finding  that  men  who  were  zeal- 
ous for  the  critical  processes  were  compara- 
tively cold  to  this,  without  which  these  proc- 
esses are  mere  matters  of  philology.  Now 
if  I  were  to  attempt  a  crusade  it  would  be 
for  this  truth,  and  not  for  the  philology,  be- 
cause I  should  like  to  concentrate  the 
thoughts  and  hearts  of  men  upon  it." 

I  have  made  these  extended  citations  from 
Erskine  both  because  they  show  the  normal 


OF  BIBLICAL   CRITICISM  245 

attitude  of  an  intensely  evangelical  mind  to 
the  vitalizing-  function  of  devout  Biblical 
criticism,  and  because  they  prepare  the  way 
for  the  final  effort  of  this  Lecture  :  namely, 
to  summarize  certain  of  the  constructive  re- 
sults of  the  critical  movement. 

In  the  nature  of  the  case,  the  results  of  an 
intellectual  movement  are  progressive,  and 
can  never,  at  any  point,  be  tabulated  as  final. 
Life  means  change  of  aspect,  change  of  rela- 
tionship, change  of  function.  Consequently 
no  result  of  the  critical  movement  can  be  al- 
leged as  closed  beyond  the  possibility  of 
being  reopened.  This,  far  from  invalidating 
the  movement,  imparts  to  it  a  sublime  analogy 
to  that  ever  expanding  revelation  of  truth 
which  is  the  basis  of  critical  investigation. 
Nevertheless,  in  the  century  of  English  and 
American  thought  that  has  passed  since 
Coleridge,  with  a  prophet's  hand,  wrote  the 
'*  Confessions  of  an  Inquiring  Spirit,"  we  have 
advanced  far  enough  to  begin  to  sum  up 
some  of  the  substantial  gains  to  vital  Chris- 
tianity, accruing  from  this  profound  effort  to 
attain  reality  in  connectioii  with  knowledge, 


246  THE   CONSTRUCTIVE   OFFICE 

external  and  internal,   of   the  sacred  Scrip- 
tures. 

The  removal  of  the  idea  that  the  Bible  is  a 
Book  protected  by  the  Church  from  scholarly 
investigation  is  one  of  the  substantial  gains  of 
the  critical  movement.  The  ages  of  relative 
ignorance,  preceding  the  revival  of  learning, 
were,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  menaced  by 
strong  tendencies  to  superstition  and  to  the 
growth  of  erroneous  popular  opinion.  The 
immature  and  unsettled  civiHzation  of  Europe 
fostered  traditions  of  paganism,  which,  upon 
the  fertile  breeding-ground  of  illiteracy, 
might  choke  the  word,  like  tares  overwhelm- 
ing wheat.  There  appeared,  therefore,  to  be 
a  certain  august  propriety  in  the  assumption, 
by  the  Church,  of  a  protectorate  over  the 
Bible  ;  withholding  it  from  the  masses,  who, 
in  blindness,  might  wrest  the  Word  unto  their 
own  destruction.  The  Church,  a  holy  and 
wise  Mother,  considering  the  frailty  and  dull- 
ness of  the  common  mind,  exercised  judicious 
discrimination  in  entrusting  the  Bible  to  un- 
trained persons  ;  and,  in  all  cases,  deemed  it 
her  bounden  duty  to  afBrm  by  authority  and 


OF   BIBLICAL   CRITICISM  247 

to  regulate  by  decisions  of  council  the  mean- 
ing and  use  of  that  which  was  written.  Al- 
though, in  the  view  of  a  later  age,  the 
Church  before  the  Reformation  was  not 
exempt  from  the  inroads  of  superstition  in 
her  interpretation  of  Scripture,  there  can  be 
no  question  of  the  beneficence  of  Catholicism, 
as  an  autocratic  director  of  the  thoughts  of 
those  incapable  of  thinking  for  themselves. 
But,  with  the  new  intellectual  conditions  that 
sprang  into  being  with  the  revival  of  learning 
and  the  growth  of  universities  in  Europe,  the 
fitness  of  the  old  order  diminished.  The  pro- 
tection of  the  Bible  from  the  mad  vagaries  of 
illiteracy  was  just  and  honouring  to  the 
sacred  deposit  committed  to  the  Church. 
The  protection  of  the  Bible  from  scholarly 
investigation,  was,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
gravest  of  mistakes,  the  most  hazardous  ad- 
venture of  zeal  without  knowledge.  For, 
with  the  growth  of  scientific  principles,  and 
the  enthusiastic  application  of  them  to  all 
other  departments  of  the  knowable  world,  a 
policy,  whether  Catholic  or  Protestant,  of 
segregating  the  Scriptures  within  the  veil  of 


248  THE   CONSTRUCTIVE   OFFICE 

mysterious  sanctity  could  not  but  produce 
lamentable  results.  Intellectual  scepticism 
looked  with  distrust  on  documents  sheltered 
by  the  pallium  of  churchly  protection  from 
the  recognized  procedure  of  criticism ;  and 
turned  indifferently  from  the  moral  and  re- 
ligious message  of  a  Book  whose  historical 
foundation  was  untested  and  unproven.  A 
religion  of  the  Spirit  was  despised  as  un- 
worthy of  men  of  candour,  because  it  seemed 
to  hide  itself  from  the  open  field  of  attested 
knowledge,  behind  the  shadowy  refuges  of 
untrustworthy  tradition  and  pious  opinion. 
It  should  be  pointed  out,  however,  that  the 
conservative  instinct  to  suspect  the  motive 
of  critical  scholarship,  and  to  impute  to  it 
hostility  to  the  Bible,  was  neither  ignoble  nor 
unreasonable.  The  Bible  is  the  most  precious 
treasure  in  the  possession  of  Protestantism. 
It  is  the  ample  equivalent  of  all  that  was  sur- 
rendered by  the  Reformers  on  its  behalf.  It 
conditions  faith  and  worship  and  conduct. 
It  is  the  lamp,  the  bread,  the  guide  of  the 
believers.  It  is  wrought  into  the  fibre  of 
civilization    and    enshrined    in    the   inmost 


OF  BIBLICAL   CRITICISM  249 

sanctuary  of  expeiience.  Well  might  the 
advances  of  scholarship,  and  the  curious  eye 
of  investigation  be  met  with  distrust,  alarm, 
resistance.  Conservative  hostility  towards 
Biblical  criticism  has  animated  some  of  the 
noblest  souls  of  this  and  other  times,  and  was, 
for  them,  a  sentiment  not  of  ignorance  nor  of 
reprehensible  prejudice,  but  of  reverence 
and  devotion.  They  sought  to  guard  from 
profanation  the  shrine  of  God's  self-revela- 
tion ;  to  preserve  unwasted  the  precious 
heritage  of  His  people.  But,  as  time  passes, 
God  reveals  a  more  excellent  way.  Not  by 
the  resistance  of  scholarship,  but  by  invoking 
its  services  is  the  authority  of  truth  disclosed. 
Not  by  protecting  the  letter,  but  by  exalting 
the  spirit  of  revelation  is  the  message  of  the 
Word  of  God  invested  with  a  power  that  none 
can  gainsay  or  withstand.  The  future  author- 
ity of  that  message  is  to  be  something  of  which 
the  world  dreams  not.  Greater  triumphs  await 
the  Bible  than  even  the  greatest  of  the  past. 

Another  substantial  gain  of  criticism  is  the 
recovery  of  human  reality  for  the  great  per- 
sonages of  Biblical  history.     It  is  character- 


250  THE   CONSTRUCTIVE   OFFICE 

istic  of  an  age  addicted  to  legend  and  in- 
different to  history  to  envelope  its  leaders 
in  an  atmosphere  of  pious  mystery ;  to  set 
them  apart  from  the  plane  of  common  life, 
esteeming  its  incentives  and  its  experiences 
too  commonplace  to  satisfy  the  hero-wor- 
shipper. The  deification  of  men  in  the 
ever-multiplying  castes  of  popular  Hindu- 
ism ;  the  beatification  of  individuals  in  the 
Christian  Church  are  analogous  to  the  kind 
of  reverence  which  elevated  the  personages 
of  Biblical  history  to  a  plane  apart  from 
ordinary  life.  If  the  Bible  was  in  every  word 
and  syllable  the  immediate  utterance  of  the 
Spirit,  the  figures  on  the  field  of  Divine 
narrative  were  also  unique.  They  could  not 
be  men  of  like  passions  with  ourselves.  It 
is  interesting  to  recall  the  disfavour  visited 
upon  Dean  Milman's  "  History  of  the  Jews,'* 
because  he,  following  Ewald,  invested  patri- 
archs and  prophets  with  the  literal  nature 
and  idiosyncrasies  of  men,  and  brought 
them  forth  from  the  gloaming  of  mysticism 
into  the  light  of  common  day.  No  words 
can    overstate    ^he    blessing   that   has   come 


OF   BIBLICAL   CRITICISM  25 1 

from  this  recovery  of  realism  for  the  person- 
ages of  Holy  Scripture.  Were  the  interests 
of  historical  scholarship  alone  considered,  the 
gain  would  be  great.  But  far  beyond  this 
extend  the  moral  and  religious  effects  of 
critical  realism.  Once  again  we  have  a  Bible 
that  is  a  chronicle  of  lives.  Its  personages, 
being  dead,  yet  speak  to  us  with  the  appeal- 
ing voice  of  actual  human  experience.  We 
can  understand  them ;  can  feel  with  them 
and  for  them.  They  become  interpreters  of 
our  own  lives  and  of  the  lives  of  others. 
They  illuminate  the  deeply  travelled  passages 
of  evil  and  good,  sin  and  righteousness,  sor- 
row and  joy,  the  service  of  self  and  the 
service  of  God. 

The  life  of  our  Blessed  Lord  has  become  real 
in  corresponding  measure.  He  has  ceased  to 
be  but  a  sacred  institution  of  theology ;  He 
has  become  our  Master  and  our  Brother,  whose 
hand  touches  us,  whose  voice  talks  with  us 
by  the  way,  whose  gentle  figure,  wrapped  in 
the  bournoose  of  an  Oriental,  walks  by  our 
side  in  this  our  earthly  pilgrimage.  With 
ever-deepening  apprehension  of  their  truth 


252  THE   CONSTRUCTIVE    OFFICE 

the  Bible  students  of  to-day  apply  to  them- 
selves the  words  :  "  Whatsoever  things  were 
written  aforetime,  were  written  for  our  learn- 
ing, that  we,  through  patience  and  comfort 
of  the  Scriptures  might  have  hope." 

The  recognition  of  Revelation  as  progress- 
ive is  another  substantial  gain  of  criticism. 
So  long  as  a  standard  of  Biblical  interpreta- 
tion was  maintained  by  authority  whereby 
coequal  religious  insight  was  attributed  to 
all  parts  of  canonical  Scripture,  the  inscru- 
table nature  and  perplexing  contradictions 
of  certain  portions  discouraged  thoughtful 
readers.  But,  with  the  development  of  Bib- 
lical science  came  the  study  of  religion,  in- 
cluding the  study  of  early  Judaism  in  the 
light  of  its  historical  antecedents,  combined 
with  increased  certainty  on  many  points 
modifying  the  traditional  view  of  the  relig- 
ious institutions  of  Israel.  Prophets  and 
psalmists  were  located  in  their  actual  envi- 
ronments ;  the  centuries  immediately  pre- 
ceding the  Advent  of  our  Lord  were  investi- 
gated; the  current  conceptions  reflected  in 
the    discourses    of    our    Lord    and    in    the 


OF   BIBLICAL   CRITICISM  253 

writings  of  His  apostles  were  analyzed ;  and, 
as  a  resultant  from  this  research,  a  light 
brighter  than  the  sun  has  poured  upon  the 
august  fact  of  Divine  self-revelation,  showing 
it  to  be  in  its  nature  and  action  progressive, 
evolutionary,  cumulative,  emerging  in  the 
midst  of  the  shadows  of  paganism,  progress- 
ing as  through  the  fitful  and  illusive  stages 
of  the  dawn,  broadening  and  deepening  the 
current  of  its  outpouring,  growing  brighter 
and  brighter  unto  the  perfect  day ;  rising  at 
length  in  full-orbed  splendour  at  the  Advent, 
and  giving  promise,  through  the  infinite 
possibilities  of  the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit, 
of  things  yet  to  be  that  "eye  hath  not  seen, 
nor  ear  heard,  neither  have  entered  into  the 
heart  of  man." 

Concurrently  with  this  clearing  concep- 
tion of  the  progressive  nature  of  Divine  rev- 
elation, has  come  a  profounder  sense  of  the 
nature  and  evidence  of  inspiration.  It  may 
be  true  that  scientific  criticism  has  accom- 
plished what  Thomas  Erskine  predicted  half 
a  century  ago :  faith  in  the  verbal  inerrancy 
of  Holy  Scripture,  as  the  credential  of  inspira- 


254  THE   CONSTRUCTIVE   OFFICE 

tion  is  a  belief  that  "  must  be  shaken  to 
pieces  by  the  facts  adduced."  But,  as 
Thomas  Erskine  saw,  in  his  intense  devotion 
to  the  Word  of  God,  the  nature  and  evidence 
of  inspiration  are  more  profound  and  more 
vast  than  any  question  of  words  :  they  inhere 
in  the  revelation  itself,  as  a  disclosure  of  the 
living  God ;  they  demonstrate  themselves, 
not  to  the  literary  judgment  of  the  scholar 
chiefly,  but  primarily,  to  the  original  and 
intuitive  perceptions  of  the  soul ;  so  that  a 
man  '*  does  not  need  any  evidence  that  this 
revelation  of  the  character  of  God  is  a  true 
revelation ;  he  knows  it  must  be  true,  or  his 
own  existence,  his  own  consciousness,  is  a  lie." 
Finally :  the  crowning  gain  of  the  critical 
movement  is  the  enrichment  of  our  concep- 
tion of  the  Person  of  Christ.  Historical  criti- 
cism has  brought  to  pass  what  may  almost  be 
described  as  a  Second  Advent  of  the  Incar- 
nate Lord.  He  has  been  given  back  to  us  ; 
He  has  come  again  to  them  that  are  His 
own  ;  bringing  with  Him,  into  the  field  of 
full,  immediate,  vital  realization  all  the  im- 
measurable glory  of  word  and  deed,  of  teach- 


OF  BIBLICAL   CRITICISM  255 

ing  and  example,  of  personality  and  influence 
that  were  given  to  the  world  in  the  Palestin- 
ian Advent.  Overwhelmed  for  the  time  being 
by  the  abundance  of  the  historical  revelation, 
enthralled  by  the  majestic  sweetness  that 
sits  enthroned  upon  the  brow  of  the  incarnate 
Jesus,  the  religious  thinking  of  our  time  has  not 
yet  fully  coordinated  the  Jesus  of  the  Synop- 
tists  with  the  Christ  of  St.  Paul  and  St.  John 
— has  not  yet  fully  identified  (if  I  may  use  the 
noble  suggestion  of  Forrest)  *' the  Christ  of 
history  "  with  '*  the  Christ  of  experience."  But 
this  identification,  this  coordination,  is  coming 
and  coming  rapidly  into  the  front  of  religious 
thinking.  It  is  to  be  the  glory  of  the  next 
great  reinterpretation  of  the  Church  ;  the  key 
to  the  Christianization  of  the  world.  The 
triumphant  Jesus,  crowned  with  many 
crowns,  is  even  now,  and  in  the  terms  of 
our  strongest  and  richest  thinking,  progress- 
ively revealing  Himself  to  the  consciousness 
of  a  faith  that  blends  learning  with  reverence. 
To  the  twentieth  century  as  to  the  first  He 
shall  be  ''  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  Beginning 
and  the  Ending,  the  First  and  the  Last." 


LECTURE  VI 
THE  LARGER  CHURCH   OF  CHRIST 


LECTURE  VI 
THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF  CHRIST 

IN  this  Lecture  we  reach  the  consumma- 
tion of  our  purpose,  described  at  the  out- 
set as  '*  an  attempt  to  interpret  contem- 
porary reHgious  conditions."  We  must  look 
back  on  the  path  leading  hither. "  We  have 
seen  that  Christ  has  invested  the  Church 
with  the  duty  of  Christianizing  the  world ;  a 
duty  which,  with  varying  measures  of  insight 
and  earnestness,  the  Church  has  undertaken 
to  discharge.  We  have  assumed  that  the 
Divine  ideal  of  the  Church,  as  the  agent  of 
this  great  mission  to  humanity,  was  present, 
in  perfect  form,  in  the  mind  of  Christ  only  ; 
and  that  the  history  of  the  Church,  since  the 
Ascension  of  Christ,  has  been  a  series  of  re- 
interpretations  of  that  ideal,  more  or  less 
limited  in  scope  and  adequacy,  yet  tending 
to  increase  in  breadth,  with  the  evolution  of 
Christian  knowledge  and  experience.  We 
259 


26o      THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF  CHRIST 

have  noted,  as  a  characteristic  of  the  present 
time,  a  widely  spread,  unorganized  desire 
for  a  fresh  reinterpretation  of  the  ideal  of  the 
Church ;  representing  in  some  form  an  im- 
provement upon  the  existing  Protestant 
status  quo.  This  desire  is  not  for  an  institu- 
tional union  under  one  central  authority,  nor 
for  a  confessional  union,  under  one  authorized 
symbol  of  belief,  but,  apparently,  for  a  com- 
mon advance  of  all  branches  of  the  Church 
towards  greater  simplicity  in  holding  and 
propagating  the  essential  message  of  the 
Gospel.  We  have  found  that,  at  the  heart  of 
this  sentiment,  is  a  growing  appreciation  of 
the  essence  of  Christianity,  as  contained  not 
merely  in  the  historical  presentations  of  the 
Synoptists,  whereby  the  humanity  of  Jesus  is 
certified,  but  equally  in  the  substance  of  the 
apostolic  Christology,  which  exalts  Jesus 
Christ,  crucified  and  risen,  the  Saviour  of 
the  World.  We  have  observed,  finally,  that 
this  wide-spread  appreciation  of  the  universal 
elements  of  the  Christian  religion,  as  distin- 
guished from  local  and  sectarian  accentua- 
tions  of   selected   doctrines,    has   developed 


THE   LARGER   CHURCH    OF   CHRIST      261 

simultaneously  with  the  critical  movement 
and,  apparently,  in  connection  with  it.  The 
fundamental  Protestant  principle  of  the  right 
and  duty  of  direct  access  to  Holy  Scripture, 
upon  which  the  critical  movement  rests,  has 
recovered  its  supremacy,  with  the  result  that 
the  authority  of  sectarian  confessional  state- 
ments has  undergone  important  modifica- 
tions. Biblical  theology  is  proving  to  be  an 
irenic  messenger  to  our  time,  gathering 
around  the  central  unities  of  the  faith  those 
who  once  were  parted  by  the  barriers  of 
dogmatic  ecclesiasticism.  Churchly  author- 
ity is  powerless  to  arrest  the  unifying  in- 
fluence of  Biblical  theology.  Those  whom 
God  has  joined  together  in  the  vision  of  com- 
mon truth,  the  tradition  of  the  sect  cannot  put 
asunder.  Nor  can  those  who  have  been 
joined  in  the  vision  of  common  truth  ever 
again  lapse  contentedly  into  former  beliefs 
touching  the  finality  of  sectarian  distinctions. 
They  have  seen  the  splendid  outlines  of  a 
greater  Church,  and,  forevermore,  must  move 
towards  it,  in  heart  and  mind.  Like  the  seer 
of  the  Apocalypse,  they  have  seen  the  "  Holy 


262      THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST 

City  coming  down  out  of  heaven  from  God, 
having  the  glory  of  God  most  precious." 
Henceforth  they  must  Hve  in  the  spirit  of 
that  larger  interpretation  of  the  Churchly 
ideal  and  must  labour  for  its  accomplishment 
on  earth.  It  is  not  that  they  have  discarded 
any  heritage  of  the  past,  but  that  they  are 
bound,  by  the  calling  of  God,  to  reach  forth 
to  those  things  that  are  before.  It  is  the  pur- 
pose of  this  Lecture  to  examine  this  concep- 
tion of  the  larger  Church  of  Christ,  which, 
for  many,  represents  the  next  reinterpretation 
of  the  ideal.  Sixty  years  have  passed  since  the 
Reverend  W.  G.  Ward,  a  fellow  of  Balliol 
College,  Oxford,  published  a  book  bearing 
the  significant  title  :  '*  The  Ideal  of  a  Chris- 
tian Church,  Considered  in  Comparison 
with  Existing  Practice."  Himself  a  clergy- 
man of  the  Church  of  England,  Ward's 
**  Ideal "  was,  substantially,  identical  with  that 
of  Rome.  It  is  interesting  to  recall  the  rep- 
robation of  Ward's  position  by  Mr.  Glad- 
stone. But  one  remembers  Ward's  book  and 
the  essay  of  his  distinguished  critic,  chiefly 
as  landmarks  wherefrom  to  measure  the  dis- 


THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST      263 

tance  traversed  in  sixty  years  of  progressive 
religious  thinking.  The  fundamental  posi- 
tions, of  both  author  and  critic,  suggest 
little  that  relates  itself  to  the  present  state  of 
Biblical  knowledge,  the  modern  conception 
of  authority  and  the  new  outlook  upon  the 
world  in  the  light  of  the  science  of  compara- 
tive religion.  Nevertheless,  Ward's  tide : 
"  The  Ideal  of  a  Christian  Church,  Considered 
in  Comparison  with  Existing  Practice,"  is  serv- 
iceable, as  suggesting  how  the  Church  is  ever 
being  saved  and  regenerated  through  the  in- 
fluence of  ideals  that  rise  far  above  existing 
practice  and  open  to  the  eye  of  faith  new 
vistas  of  possibility. 

As  a  preparation  for  our  view  of  a  larger 
Church  of  Christ,  it  is  appropriate  to  reflect 
upon  certain  indirect  results  of  the  critical 
movement,  to  some  of  which  more  or  less 
extended  reference  already  has  been  made. 

Increasing  sense  of  brotherhood  in  the 
truth  is  one  of  the  notes  of  the  present  time. 
It  is  that  which  takes  the  place  of  the 
sectarian  spirit.  The  sectarian  spirit  is  either 
aggressive  or  segregative.     In  its  aggressive 


264      THE   LARGER   CHURCH    OF   CHRIST 

form  it  assails  the  theological  position  of 
others  and  seeks  to  make  converts  to  its 
own.  It  compasses  sea  and  land  to  make 
one  proselyte.  In  its  segregative  form,  the 
sectarian  spirit  ensconces  itself  within  the 
stronghold  of  orthodoxy,  zealous  to  main- 
tain an  unimpaired  body  of  doctrine ;  its 
interest  is  with  its  own  affairs ;  it  is  indiffer- 
ent to  the  problems  of  criticism,  or  looks  out 
upon  them  with  disfavour  as  evidences  of 
popular  unrest  which  rashly  reopens  ques- 
tions closed  by  authority.  This  spirit,  once 
generally  held  to  be  a  normal  expression  of 
religious  earnestness,  has  now  given  place 
in  many  quarters  to  one  in  every  respect  its 
opposite.  The  sense  of  brotherhood  in  the 
truth  is  a  state  of  mind  neither  aggressive 
for  proselytism  nor  segregative  for  self- 
protection.  It  is  full  of  activity  and  effort, 
but  there  is  nothing  in  its  activity  analogous 
to  the  zeal  of  the  sectary  to  bring  others 
into  line  with  his  opinions.  The  activity  is 
wholly  on  behalf  of  truth :  it  represents  the 
spirit  of  Isaiah's  phrase,  ''valiant  for  the 
truth    upon   earth."     It  considers   the   truth 


THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST      265 

to  be  that  which  is  good,  and  worthy  and 
necessary;  the  only  thing  that  can  satisfy 
man  and  save  the  world.  The  truth  is  no 
man's  private  possession  nor  is  it  established 
by  the  authority  of  any  man  or  party.  To 
bring  others  under  its  influence  is  not 
proselytism.  Furthermore,  the  truth  is  to 
be  followed  as  a  leader,  whithersoever  it 
goeth.  It  is  not  bound  by  man's  attempts 
to  define  it  and  to  enforce  those  definitions 
as  absolute.  It  advances,  going  before  the 
docile  mind,  a  pillar  of  cloud  by  day  and 
of  fire  by  night.  Brotherhood  in  the  truth 
is  a  relationship  devoid  of  self-interest  and 
uninfluenced  by  party  ends.  It  is  frank, 
guileless,  sincere ;  it  knows  nothing  of 
rivalry ;  it  is  not  vexed  when  temperamen- 
tal tendencies  lead  to  variation  in  modes 
of  expression.  It  is  a  comprehensive, 
generous  fellowship,  in  the  spirit  more 
than  in  the  letter.  Back  of  it  lies  the 
conviction  that  God,  who  ordained  these 
temperamental  variations,  must  intend,  by 
means  of  them,  to  effect  a  broader  revelation 
of  the  truth. 


266      THE   LARGER   CHURCH    OF   CHRIST 

The  growth  of  a  larger  conception  of  the 
missionary  function  is  another  note  of  the 
present  time.  It  is  closely  connected  with 
the  sense  of  brotherhood  in  the  truth.  As 
that  represents  the  reversal  of  the  sectarian 
spirit  in  matters  of  belief,  so  this  repre- 
sents the  reversal  of  the  sectarian  aim 
in  missions.  More  or  less  intentionally, 
Protestant  evangelization  has  been  iden- 
tical with  sectarian  propagation.  No  other 
method  of  procedure  suggested  itself  to  the 
earlier  organizers  of  missions  to  the  East. 
None  other  now  appears,  to  large  bodies  of 
Christians,  to  be  capable  of  producing  prac- 
tical results.  Christianity,  being  regarded 
as  synonymous  with  a  specific  denomina- 
tional expression  of  it,  the  function  of  the 
Christianizer  in  the  East  becomes  inseparable 
from  that  of  the  denominationalist  at  home. 
He  becomes  also  the  denominationalist 
in  the  East.  Whether  these  specialized  in- 
terpretations of  a  universal  religion  can 
wisely  be  pressed  as  having  authority  over 
the  Eastern  consciousness,  or  whether  it  be 
the  way  of  the  Spirit  to  gather  the  sheep  of 


THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST      267 

the  East  into  folds  of  the  West,  are  questions 
that  scarcely  occurred  to  the  earlier  promot- 
ers of  missions ;  that  scarcely  occur  now 
to  those  for  whom  churchmanship  and 
cherished  symbols  of  orthodoxy  are  coequal 
with  the  essence  of  religion.  The  rea- 
sonableness of  such  an  attitude  is  obvious. 
Generations  of  sectarian  heredity  create  a 
state  of  settled  conviction  predetermining 
methods  of  procedure.  The  denominational- 
ist  in  the  East  is  a  purely  logical  expression 
of  his  intellectual  antecedents.  Nor  can 
too  much  praise  be  given  to  many  de- 
nominational missionaries  for  the  modera- 
tion, breadth  and  insight  with  which  they 
have  done,  or  are  doing,  their  work.  Yet, 
as  a  sense  of  brotherhood  in  the  truth  gently 
supplants  the  aggressive  or  segregative 
energies  of  sectarianism  it  supplies  a  new 
point  of  view,  and  opens  new  questions,  the 
reconstructive  effect  of  which  on  missionary 
policy  will  be  suggested  to  the  mind  by  the 
later  portions  of  this  Lecture. 

An   enlarged  conception  of  the  meaning 
and  value  of  the  world  is  another  note  of 


268      THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST 

modern  religious  thinking.  It  stands  in 
contrast  with  the  mediaeval  spirit,  which,  in 
effect,  was  a  reaction  from  Greek  and  Ro- 
man estimates  of  life.  To  both  Greek  and 
Roman  the  world  was  a  prize  to  be  grasped 
after.  The  Grecian  love  of  the  world  was 
expressed  in  terms  of  sestheticism  :  Beauty 
of  form ;  colour  and  warmth  of  personality  ; 
grace  of  motion  ;  glorious  energies  of  the 
body ;  the  rhapsody  of  sensuous  existence ; 
poetry ;  dialectic ;  philosophy ;  oratory. 
The  Roman  love  of  the  world  uttered 
itself  in  the  terms  of  authority.  The  ad- 
vance of  civilization,  casting  up  highways 
in  the  desert,  striking  through  the  wilder- 
ness the  radii  of  aqueduct  and  military  road ; 
imperial  colonizations ;  the  majesty  of  con- 
quest; fundamental  principles  of  law  and 
jurisprudence.  To  Greek  and  Roman,  each 
according  to  the  temper  and  tradition 
of  his  race,  appeared  the  splendour  and 
value  of  the  present  world.  Upon  the 
spirit  of  mediaeval  Christianity,  rising  on 
the  ruins  of  pagan  empires,  fell  a  reaction 
that  reversed  all  world  values.     To  the  Ro- 


THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST      269 

man's  haughty  joy  in  power,  and  the  Greek's 
sensuous  and  sunny  idolatry  of  life  suc- 
ceeded a  sinister  ecclesiasticism  that  affected 
to  view  the  world  with  the  frown  of  reproba- 
tion. It  lay  under  the  wrath  and  curse  of 
God.  The  fires  of  judgment  were  already 
kindled.  The  day  of  wrath  was  at  hand. 
Sinners  against  light,  together  with  the  un- 
named myriads  of  heathendom,  were  to  be 
swallowed  up,  as  in  the  pit  of  hell.  Salva- 
tion lay  in  separation  from  the  world  and  its 
accursed  works ;  in  the  purifying  of  the 
soul  by  acts  of  discipline ;  in  the  vow 
that  built  one  in,  as  behind  ramparts  of 
stone,  from  fellowship  with  the  ungodly 
multitude.  To  say  that  this  mediaeval  con- 
tempt of  the  world  measurably  projected 
itself  into  the  reformed  theology  and  affected 
both  the  line  of  its  activity  and  the  colour 
of  its  thinking  is  to  say  only  the  truth.  The 
English  evangelicals  of  the  eighteenth 
century  were  the  reproduction  in  Protestant- 
ism of  mediaeval  zeal  to  attain  personal 
salvation  by  trampling  on  an  evil  world, 
already  blasted  with  the  curse  of  God,  and 


270      THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST 

ripening  for  the  harvest  of  retribution. 
How  enormous  and  how  blessed  is  the 
advance  of  modern  thinking  from  this  view 
of  the  world  I  The  protest  against  pagan 
materialism  that  was  involved  in  the 
mediaeval  attitude  of  mind  has  not  been 
revoked.  Now  as  then  it  is  recognized 
that  the  prince  of  this  world  hath  nothing 
in  Christ ;  that  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  the 
lust  of  the  eye  and  the  pride  of  life  are 
enemies  that  war  against  the  soul,  and 
that  whosoever  will  live  godly  in  Christ 
Jesus  must  crucify  the  flesh  with  the  affec- 
tions and  lusts.  But  the  old  contemptus 
mundi  has  given  place  to  a  sentiment  more 
in  keeping  with  the  spirit  of  Him  who  so 
loved  the  world  that  He  gave  His  only  be- 
gotten Son.  A  deep  reverence  for  the 
world  as  the  object  of  God's  love  and  sorrow, 
and  the  scene  of  His  perpetual  Presence 
suffuses  modern  religious  thinking,  impart- 
ing to  it  a  tone  of  sacrificial  tenderness.  All 
human  life  is  invested  with  immediate  im- 
portance and  value.  Nothing  is  common 
or  unclean.     Salvation  by  self-seclusion  be- 


THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF  CHRIST      271 

comes  a  secondary  interest.  Salvation  by 
self-immersion  in  the  life  of  the  world  has 
become  the  chief  incentive  of  the  Christian  : 
'*  non  ministrari  sed  ministrare." 

An  advance  in  realizing  the  immanence  of 
God  and  the  universal  activity  of  His  Spirit 
is  another  mark  of  the  existing  religious 
situation.  To  suppose  that  the  sense  of  God's 
immanence  is  peculiar  to  this  time  would  be 
erroneous.  It  has  been  present  in  chosen 
souls  from  the  beginning.  Six  hundred  years 
ago  the  far-visioned  Tauler  quotes  with  joy 
the  ancient  word  of  Augustine  :  **  Whatever 
is  true,  by  whomsoever  it  is  spoken,  pro- 
ceeds from  the  Spirit  of  God."  The  same 
conception  was  with  the  Cambridge  Platon- 
ists,  and  with  Fenelon  and  with  all  who  have 
assimilated  the  fundamental  principle  of  true 
mysticism :  God's  immediate  and  unre- 
stricted access  to  the  spirits  of  His  children. 
But  the  significance  of  God's  immanence 
has  appeared  to  this  generation  as  to  none  of 
its  predecessors.  The  critical  study  of  the 
sources  of  Oriental  religions,  the  wider  ac- 
quaintance with  holy  aspirations  and  experi- 


272      THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST 

ences  occurring  beyond  the  zone  of  Christian 
influence,  have  not  only  added  to  our  knowl- 
edge of  man  but  have  deepened  our  knowl- 
edge of  God.  That  the  activity  of  His  Spirit 
is  more  mysteriously  diffused  than  an  earlier 
age  supposed ;  that  the  relations  of  human 
souls  with  God  transcend  the  limits  set  by 
theological  opinion  ;  that  the  plan  of  God  for 
the  religious  development  of  the  world 
stretches  out  beyond  our  narrow  churchman- 
ship,  as  the  immensity  of  the  sea  stretches 
out  beyond  the  moles  and  jetties  of  our 
harbour-ways — these  are  among  the  momen- 
tous implications  attaching  to  the  immanence 
of  God  in  the  light  of  the  scientific  study  of 
religion. 

When  we  group  these  foregoing  thoughts 
— all  of  them  indirect  results  of  the  critical 
movement :  increasing  sense  of  brotherhood 
in  the  truth ;  enlarged  conception  of  the 
missionary  function ;  a  diviner  estimate  of 
the  meaning  and  value  of  the  world,  and  a 
broader  understanding  of  the  immanence  of 
God  and  the  universal  activity  of  His  Spirit 
— we  realize  that,  under  the  law  of  propor- 


THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF  CHRIST      273 

tion  and  adjustment  we  are  prepared  to  en- 
tertain an  ideal  of  the  Christian  Church  con- 
structed on  lines  larger  and  broader  than  any 
that  have  determined  the  Churchly  ideals  of 
the  past.  There  is  nothing  radical  or  revo- 
lutionary in  the  anticipation  of  such  an  ideal 
as  the  measure  of  the  Church  that  is  to  be. 
The  ideal  arrives  on  the  field  of  conscious- 
ness in  the  fullness  of  time  as  the  next  mem- 
ber in  a  normal  sequence,  suggested  not  by 
the  heated  imagination  of  optimists  but  by 
the  logic  of  history  and  by  the  prophetic  in- 
timations that  appear,  at  home  and  abroad, 
in  the  unique  religious  situation  of  the  world. 
There  is  nothing  new  or  strange  in  the 
thought  of  a  larger  Church  of  Christ.  The 
law  of  the  past  is  the  law  of  an  ever  enlarg- 
ing conception  of  what  the  Church  is  de- 
signed to  stand  for.  The  past  has  witnessed 
the  outgrowing  of  one  ideal  after  another,  as 
intellectual  and  moral  conditions  have 
changed ;  the  putting  away  of  that  which 
had  become  inadequate ;  the  taking  on  of 
that  which,  to  an  ever  advancing  race,  seemed 
more  commensurate  with   its   development 


274      THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST 

Nothing  is  more  impressive  than  to  reflect 
upon  this  phenomenon.  With  the  progress 
of  the  centuries  one  churchly  ideal  after  an- 
other has  been  outgrown  and  unconsciously 
has  yielded  up  its  supremacy ;  to  be,  hence- 
forth, an  incident  in  a  movement  of  thought 
yet  broader  in  scope  and  more  spiritual. 
Instinctively  one  recalls  four  venerable  names, 
each  one  of  which  rises  like  a  pillar  of  wit- 
ness on  the  plain  of  history,  commemorating 
a  churchly  ideal  that,  to  its  adherents, 
seemed  final ;  yet  beyond  which,  to  some 
conception  more  majestic  and  more  spiritual, 
religious  thinking  has  projected  itself,  im- 
pelled by  the  Spirit  of  truth.  Jerusalem — 
Constantinople  —  Rome  —  Geneva !  How 
magnificent  are  the  associations  of  these 
names  with  the  higher  life  of  the  race  1 
What  suggestions  they  present  to  the  student 
of  religion  I  What  witness  they  bear  to  the 
power  of  religion  in  the  development  of  the 
world  1 

Jerusalem  I  No  name,  it  may  be,  in  the 
entire  nomenclature  of  the  world,  holds  in 
itself   more  abundantly  the  quintessence  of 


THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST      275 

religious  passion  ;  not  Rome,  with  its  august 
tradition,  not  Benares,  with  its  overpowering 
realism  of  devotion.  Upon  Jerusalem  rested 
the  immediate  benediction  of  God.  Towards 
Jerusalem  went  forth  a  sacred  energy  of  love 
that  lives  unspent,  after  twenty  centuries  of 
absence,  in  many  of  the  house  of  Israel ; 
and  dims  the  eye  with  tears,  at  mention  of 
the  beloved  name.  Not  in  the  literature  of 
devotion  is  there  a  passage  more  splendid 
than  the  immortal  yearning  of  the  exile : 
**  If  I  forget  thee,  O  Jerusalem,  let  my  right 
hand  forget  her  cunning ;  let  my  tongue 
cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth  if  I  prefer 
not  Jerusalem  above  my  chief  joy."  Jerusa- 
lem stands  for  the  Jewish  churchly  ideal ;  the 
ideal  of  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob  and  their 
successors  ;  the  ideal  that  lived  like  an  Apoca- 
lypse before  the  imagination  of  the  prophets ; 
that  neither  idolatrous  lapses,  nor  dispersion, 
nor  exile  could  utterly  abolish  and  destroy.  It 
was  the  conception  of  a  segregated  nation, 
sifted  out,  set  apart,  nurtured  and  protected. 
The  favourite  of  Jehovah  ;  the  sole  possessor 
of  the  truth  ;  the  apple  of  His  eye,  the  name 


276      THE   LARGER   CHURCH    OF   CHRIST 

engraven  on  His  heart, — well  might  the 
churchly  ideal  that  focussed  at  Jerusalem 
cause  the  hearts  of  its  adherents  to  thrill 
with  holy  satisfaction.  The  words  of  the 
Deuteronomist ^  do  justice  to  that  ideal: 
**Thou  art  an  holy  people  unto  the  Lord 
thy  God :  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  chosen 
thee  to  be  a  special  people  unto  Himself, 
above  all  people  that  are  upon  the  face 
of  the  earth."  The  attitude  towards  the 
world,  encouraged  by  such  a  churchly  ideal, 
was  characteristic.  From  his  secure  position 
in  "the  mountain  of  the  Lord's  house"  the 
Jew  looked  out  upon  the  nations  and  despised 
them.  Their  thoughts,  their  deeds,  their 
prayers,  their  gods  were  altogether  vanity. 
As  Christianity  arose  out  of  Judaism,  the  in- 
herited tendency  to  segregation  clung  to  it. 
A  great  cosmopolitan,  like  St.  Paul,  could 
break  loose  from  the  tendency,  could  turn  to 
the  Gentiles ;  could  recognize,  in  Greek  and 
Roman,  the  ofTspring  of  God.  But  for  men 
of  less  independence  and  more  subservience 
to  tradition  it  was  not  easy  to  grasp  the  idea 

1  Deut.  7  :  6. 


THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST      277 

that  God  had  unto  the  Gentiles  granted  re- 
pentance unto  life.  Many  beside  Peter 
needed  the  admonition  "What  God  hath 
cleansed,  make  not  thou  common."  ^  Cen- 
turies have  passed,  yet  from  time  to  time 
there  are  local  reversions  to  the  Jewish  ideal, 
as  the  ardour  of  sectarianism  utters  itself  in 
ecclesiastical  claims  which  imply  exclusive 
prerogatives  of  ministry,  or  monopoly  of  re- 
vealed truth. 

Less  impassioned  yet  not  less  impressive 
are  the  associations  that  invest  the  name 
Constantinople  as  a  way-mark  in  the  evolu- 
tion of  churchly  ideals.  The  Greek  concep- 
tion of  Catholicity  (as  was  pointed  out  in  an 
earlier  lecture)  magnified  the  eternal  unities 
of  thought  above  the  temporalities  of  visible 
empire.  The  Holy  Orthodox  Church  became 
the  designation  of  Eastern  Christianity.  The 
canons  of  metaphysic  were,  to  the  Christian 
thinkers  of  Asia  Minor,  what  the  furnishings 
of  the  Most  Holy  Place  were  to  Israel,  sacred 
essentials  of  faith  and  worship.  The  glory 
of   the   Church  was  commensurate  with  its 

'  Acts  10  :  15. 


278   THE  LARGER  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST 

homogeneity  in  the  manner  and  method  of 
formulating  truth.  Doctrine,  approved  and 
issued  by  authority,  became  absolute,  in  form 
as  well  as  in  substance.  Whosoever  should 
think  otherwise  was  accursed.  As  a  govern- 
mental conception  in  the  field  of  religion,  the 
regulation  of  thought  by  authority,  was,  in  it- 
self, magnificent.  It  simplified  by  an  imperial 
method  the  problems  of  theology,  forbidding 
men  to  think  otherwise  than  in  conformity 
to  approved  standards.  It  stood  before  the 
impulse  that,  in  every  age  sets,  like  the  tide, 
towards  higher  grounds  of  knowledge,  and 
said  :  Thus  far  shalt  thou  go  and  no  farther. 
It  pursued  methods  for  the  repression  of 
heresy  and  the  extirpation  of  heretics,  hold- 
ing it  of  supreme  importance  to  purge  the 
Church  of  irregular  proclivities.  Even  more 
obviously  than  the  Jewish  instinct  of  segre- 
gation has  the  Greek  conception  of  intellec- 
tual authority  maintained  its  place  through- 
out the  evolution  of  the  Christian  Church. 
It  passed  over  into  Protestantism  with  power, 
and  became  one  of  the  most  prominent 
characteristics    of    the    sectarian    status   quo. 


THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST      279 

Its  relative  reasonableness,  and  its  great 
service  to  the  cause  of  truth  must  be  recog- 
nized by  unprejudiced  minds.  The  self-real- 
ization of  the  Church,  collectively,  and  in  its 
parts,  has  been  attained  largely  through 
official  deliverances,  representing  the  mind 
of  the  majority.  The  guidance  of  the  unin- 
structed  average,  who,  in  matters  of  Bib- 
lical interpretation  and  theological  belief  are 
strikingly  dependent,  has  come  about  through 
catechetical  definition,  supplied  by  authority. 
The  limitations  in  the  system  appear  when 
the  guardians  of  orthodoxy  undertake  to  re- 
press thought  and  to  punish  thinkers.  Acts 
of  discipline,  and  executions  of  judgments 
are  at  all  times  possible  ;  but  the  whole  his- 
tory of  dissent  and  independency  witnesses 
to  the  inalienable  liberty  of  the  intellect  and 
the  ineradicable  right  of  private  judgment ; 
whereby  the  field  of  religious  opinion  forever 
broadens,  and  the  truth-seeker,  being  blocked 
at  one  path,  turns  to  another ;  constrained 
by  conscience,  and  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  to 
endure  as  seeing  Him  who  is  invisible. 

Outwardly  and  visibly,  not  Jerusalem  and 


28o      THE    LARGER   CHURCH    OF   CHRIST 

not  Constantinople  represents  an  ideal  of  the 
Church  so  august  as  that  which  is  associated 
with  the  name,  Rome  I  Born  within  a  city, 
than  which  only  Delhi  in  India  is  more  rich 
in  memorials  of  imperial  leadership  ;  erected 
on  lines  suggested  by  the  superb  ambition 
of  deified  emperors,  the  papal  conception  of 
the  Church  appeals,  as  none  other  yet  has 
appealed,  to  the  imagination  of  the  Western 
Hemisphere.  From  a  central  seat  of  empire 
to  the  ends  of  the  habitable  world,  radiates 
an  infallible  and  unquestioned  dictatorship. 
A  man,  chosen  by  the  votes  of  a  college  of 
cardinals,  assumes  the  functions  of  a  vicar 
of  Christ  on  earth  and  exercises  the  terrific 
prerogatives  of  a  viceroy  of  God.  Having 
the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  with 
power  to  bind  and  to  loose,  this  central  in- 
carnation of  authority  is  represented  by  an 
innumerable  priesthood,  appearing  in  every 
land,  speaking  every  language,  assimilating 
the  peculiarities  of  every  environment,  yet 
surrendering  under  no  circumstances  the  dis- 
tinctive marks  of  ecclesiastical  identity.  In 
this    priesthood    inheres   sacramental    grace, 


THE   LARGER   CHURCH    OF   CHRIST      28 1 

and  disciplinary  power.  It  is  competent  to 
explore  the  hidden  chambers  of  the  soul, 
and  to  receive  confidences  that  one  may 
breathe  only  into  the  ear  of  God.  It  has 
power  to  inflict  penalty  for  sin,  and  to  pro- 
nounce absolution  from  guilt.  It  is  its  duty 
to  determine  the  action  of  conscience,  to 
impose  the  boundaries  of  belief,  to  regulate 
devotion,  to  work  the  perpetual  miracle  of 
the  altar.  It  meets  the  soul  at  its  birth  into 
the  world,  and  determines  its  character  by 
baptismal  mysteries.  It  attends  it  amid  the 
shadows  of  death  and  dismisses  it  into  eter- 
nity with  holy  anointings.  It  projects  its 
authority  beyond  the  grave  and  alleviates 
the  trial  of  the  intermediate  state.  It  claims 
affiliation  with  powers  of  the  unseen  world, 
with  glorified  saints,  and  with  the  Mother  of 
God,  whose  intercessory  ministrations  are 
given  at  its  request.  It  stands  between  Holy 
Scripture  and  the  frailty  of  human  wisdom  ; 
expounding  the  oracles  of  God,  determining, 
with  indefectible  certitude,  the  nature  and 
content  of  truth.  Such,  in  effect,  is  the 
venerable  Roman  ideal,  realized  in  forms  of 


282      THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST 

magnificence,  in  institutions  of  adamantine 
stability,  in  organizations  of  marvellous  intri- 
cacy and  efficiency ;  in  statesmanlike  leader- 
ship. 

The  sublimity  of  these  several  conceptions 
of  the  Church  of  Christ  is  unquestionable. 
Whether  we  consider  the  solemn  separatism 
of  the  Jewish  ideal,  as  that  of  a  people  pur- 
chased by  the  Most  High  for  His  own  pos- 
session, and  set  on  the  holy  hill  of  consecra- 
tion, above  the  apostasy  of  the  world  ;  or  the 
intellectual  sovereignty  of  the  Greek  ideal, 
as  the  custodian  of  truth,  waiting  ever  as  a 
watchman  to  guard  the  shrine  of  revelation 
and  to  repel  the  curious  advances  of  an 
unsanctified  reason ;  or  the  imperial  absolu- 
tism of  the  Latin  ideal,  wielding  the  sceptre 
of  infallibility,  we  find  ourselves  in  the  pres- 
ence of  that  which  appeals  to  our  sense  of 
grandeur  and  dignity.  It  is  easy  to  account 
for  the  enormous  part  played  by  religion  in 
the  affairs  of  the  Western  world  when  we 
remember  the  sublimity  of  its  chief  historical 
interpretations.  Yet  great  as  they  were,  and 
as  they  are  (for  the  spirit  of  each  of  these 


THE   LARGER   CHURCH    OF   CHRIST      283 

interpretations  of  the  churchly  ideal  is  con- 
tinuously represented  in  the  evolution  of 
Christianity),  the  world  has  outgrown  them. 
Great  as  they  are,  they  are  not  great  enough 
to  meet  that  ideal  of  a  Christian  Church  that 
comes  with  the  growth  of  true  democracy, 
which  is  the  fruit  of  intellectual  light  and 
liberty.  Not  Jerusalem,  nor  Constantinople, 
nor  Rome,  with  all  their  pomp,  represents  an 
ideal  so  stately  in  its  simplicity,  so  broad  in 
scope,  so  spiritual  in  its  tone  as  that  which  is 
summoned  to  the  mind  by  the  name,  Geneva  ! 
The  ideal  of  Protestantism  was  born  with  the 
rebirth  of  scholarship  in  Europe.  It  devel- 
oped in  the  bracing  atmosphere  of  intel- 
lectual activity  and  ethical  virility.  It  grew 
up  in  minds  not  intimidated  by  the  threaten- 
ings  of  hereditary  power  and  the  intolerant 
absolutism  of  vested  rights.  It  represented 
courage  of  conviction,  spirituality  of  mind, 
obedience  to  conscience,  human  brotherhood, 
direct  experience  of  the  grace  of  God.  It 
felt  that  the  freedom  of  the  sons  of  God,  with 
all  its  untrained  simplicity  and  liability  to 
error,    was    more    precious    than   the   most 


284      THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST 

ancient  ceremonial  joined  with  subservience 
to  questionable  authority.  The  churchly  ideal 
of  Protestantism  stands  for  the  liberty  of  the 
Spirit ;  the  individual  rights  of  believers ;  the 
freedom  of  faith  and  worship,  according  to 
the  dictates  of  conscience  ;  the  priesthood  of 
Christ  alone  ;  diversity  in  unity  as  the  normal 
life  of  the  Church ;  the  many  sects  with  their 
rights  of  divergence ;  the  one  brotherhood  of 
the  common  truth. 

It  is  indeed  a  great  ideal,  in  its  fidelity  to 
nature,  its  appeal  to  intellectual  life,  its  moral 
authority,  its  wealth  of  religious  develop- 
ment. The  order  of  nature  inclines  towards 
difTerentiation  ;  ''  one  star  differeth  from  an- 
other star."  The  principle  of  natural  selec- 
tion enters  into  the  fundamental  processes  of 
life ;  enriching  it,  and  extending  its  scope. 
The  hidden  tendencies  that  result  in  the  origin 
of  species  are  among  the  most  characteristic 
phenomena  of  nature.  Thus  she  works ; 
maintaining  within  all  her  larger  unities  dif- 
ferences that  represent  the  flexibility  of  organic 
life,  and  the  versatility  of  the  guiding  Mind 
that  finds  expression  in  the  manifoldness  of 


THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST      285 

the  universe.  The  ideal  of  Protestantism 
presents  an  analogy  in  the  realm  of  the  Spirit 
to  the  law  of  natural  selection  in  the  physical 
world.  And  because  of  the  unity  of  nature 
in  all  realms,  the  truth  of  the  analogy  appears 
in  the  enormous  enrichment  of  the  religious 
life  of  the  West  by  means  of  the  flexibility 
and  versatility  of  Protestantism.  Beyond 
doubt  there  were  great  values  conserved  by 
the  massive  homogeneity  of  the  Roman 
Church.  Nevertheless  the  reversion  to  natu- 
ral selection  in  religion  was  inevitable.  Had 
not  the  crisis  occurred  that  aroused  the  spirit 
of  Luther,  the  reversion  must  sooner  or  later 
have  come  to  pass,  for  the  wind  that  bloweth 
where  it  listeth  cannot  be  bound  by  the 
edicts  of  human  authority. 

In  its  appeal  to  the  intellectual  life  the 
genius  of  Protestantism  has  great  power. 
The  argument  of  Cardinal  Newman  in  the 
Grammar  of  Assent  may  accomplish  the  in- 
tellectual self-surrender  of  individuals,  but 
such  instances  must  remain  sporadic  and  ex- 
ceptional. Liberty  of  the  mind  is  normal; 
and,  whereas  servitude  to  absolute  authority,  if 


286      THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST 

long  continued,  may  beget  a  kind  of  hereditary- 
passivity,  sometimes  mistaken  for  content- 
ment, the  instinct  of  mental  Ufe  recovers  con- 
sciousnesss  at  the  touch  of  knowledge,  and 
struggles  for  emancipation.  The  strength  of 
Protestantism  as  a  churchly  ideal  lies,  in 
part,  in  its  relative  recognition  of  the  instinct 
of  intellectual  liberty.  Where  it  has  done 
justice  to  this  instinct  it  has  prospered. 
Where  it  has  withheld  justice  it  has  brought  on 
revolutions  within  itself,  the  outcome  of  which 
has  been  on  the  side  of  liberty.  Nor  do  these 
successive  victories  of  liberty  lead  to  disin- 
tegration. They  lead  but  to  a  larger  inter- 
pretation and  a  more  spiritual  apprehension 
of  fundamental  principles.  ''Where  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty."  ^ 

The  moral  authority  of  Protestantism  in  the 
lives  of  individuals  is  closely  connected  with 
its  appeal  to  the  intellect.  As  that  appeal 
rests  upon  truth  itself  rather  than  upon  the 
action  of  a  Church  promulgating  and  defin- 
ing truth,  so  the  ethical  sanction  of  truth  as 
truth  is  the  controlling  principle  in  thought 

1  2  Cor.  3:  17. 


THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST      287 

and  conduct.  There  is,  for  the  true  Protes- 
tant, no  external  custodian  of  the  conscience, 
no  spiritual  director  acting  in  the  name  of  a 
Church.  Like  Moses  in  Horeb,  called  into 
the  cloud-capped  presence-chamber  of  Jeho- 
vah to  receive  from  His  hand  the  oracles  of 
righteousness,  the  moral  authority  of  Protes- 
tantism is,  for  one  who  rightly  apprehends  it, 
the  unmediated  contact  of  mind  and  con- 
science with  truth  as  truth.  There  is  no  priest 
to  say  :  This  is  right,  that  is  wrong.  There 
is  no  Church  empowered  to  pronounce  ab- 
solution or  to  decree  measures  of  penance. 
There  is  but  the  Spirit  of  truth,  dealing  im- 
mediately with  the  moral  nature.  That  torch 
lights  the  path  of  conduct  and  divides  good 
from  evil.  That  sword  pierces  to  the  dividing 
of  joints  and  marrow,  dissecting  and  dis- 
cerning the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart. 
As  a  result  of  these  and  other  characteris- 
tics the  Protestant  churchly  ideal  provides  for 
a  great  wealth  of  religious  development. 
Many  types  of  experience  appear  among  the 
manifold  influences  of  Protestant  institutions  ; 
many  forms  of  worship  evolve  through  the 


288      THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST 

free  action  of  diverse  temperaments ;  many 
intellectual  variations  occur  in  the  apprehen- 
sion of  truth.  These,  in  earlier  stages,  pro- 
duced bitter  rivalries  and  contentions,  which, 
under  the  ripening  influence  of  time  and  the 
growth  of  a  broader  world  view,  are  passing 
away.  The  true  glory  of  Protestantism  ap- 
pears in  varieties  of  religious  development, 
finding  modes  of  self-respecting  expression 
consistent  with  the  law  of  Christian  love  and 
the  duty  of  Christian  cooperation  at  home 
and  abroad. 

There  is  reason  to  think  that  at  no  period 
since  the  Reformation  has  the  churchly 
ideal  of  Protestantism  been  more  nearly 
realized  than  at  present.  In  its  naturalness 
and  flexibility,  in  its  evident  sympathy  with 
intellectual  progress,  in  its  sincere  effort  for 
righteousness  and  in  the  beauty  of  many  of 
its  variant  types  it  is  justifying  the  hope  and 
fulfilling  the  prophecy  of  great  servants  of 
God  who  entertained  this  ideal  in  an  age 
when  its  adherents  were  a  persecuted  mi- 
nority, accounted  in  the  seats  of  power  as  the 
offscouring  of  the  earth. 


THE   LARGER   CHURCH    OF   CHRIST      289 

Yet  a  greater  ideal  than  this  is  dawning 
on  many  minds,  forbidding  them  to  rest 
contentedly  in  the  status  quo  of  Protestant- 
ism. Like  the  vision  of  a  city  of  God  com- 
ing down  out  of  heaven  is  the  thought 
of  a  larger  Church  of  Christ  than  Jeru- 
salem, or  Constantinople,  or  Rome,  or 
Geneva  knew.  With  all  its  flexibility  and 
comprehensiveness,  with  its  provision  for  the 
free  action  of  various  temperaments  and  its 
toleration  of  various  points  of  view,  there 
rested  on  Protestantism  at  the  beginning, 
and  has  rested  ever  since,  one  characteristic 
limitation.  It  was,  and  is,  the  instinctive 
tendency  to  feel  that  the  fullness  of  the 
Church  of  Christ  is  already  potentially  rep- 
resented in  the  theologies,  institutions  and 
orders  of  Western  Christianity  and  that  the 
future  promises  only  the  expansion  of  Western 
institutions  until  they  cover  the  whole  earth. 
The  Christianization  of  the  world  has  meant, 
both  to  the  Protestant  Church  and  to  the  Ro- 
man Church,  increasing  control  of  the  Eastern 
religions  consciousness  by  Western  influence, 
until   the    Orient  shall  have  assimilated  the 


290      THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST 

Western  interpretations  of  Christianity,  and 
shall  have  become  Christianized  by  becom- 
ing Westernized  in  the  realm  of  religious 
thinking.  From  this  point  of  view  the  ideal 
of  the  Church  stands  for  expansion  by 
colonization  and  conquest,  until  Western 
Christianity  with  her  Oriental  dependencies 
becomes  a  world  wide  spiritual  empire  on 
which  the  sun  never  sets.  To  trace  the 
growth  of  this  conception  to  its  sources,  and 
to  give  an  account  of  the  influences  that  have 
contributed  to  it  would  involve  a  much  more 
extensive  historical  review  than  is  possible  in 
this  Lecture.  I  regret  that  I  cannot  do  more 
than  name  some  of  the  influences  that  have 
developed  in  the  European  mind  a  disposi- 
tion to  monopolize  the  right  of  interpreting 
and  disseminating  a  religion  that  was  con- 
veyed to  Europe  by  an  Oriental  after  it  had 
been  planted  in  Asia  Minor.  I  conceive  that 
these  influences  began  to  operate  very  early 
in  the  history  of  Latin  Christianity,  and  that 
one  of  them  was  the  reaction  away  from  the 
East  that  followed  the  division  of  the  Church. 
The    cleavage  was  deep ;  it  involved  more 


THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF  CHRIST      291 

than  theological  disunion,  it  struck  through 
art  and  letters  and  philosophy ;  it  threw 
the  nearer  East  into  shadow  and  drove  back 
into  infinite  remoteness  the  vaguely  known 
pagan  world  that  lay  beyond  Constantinople  ; 
it  seemed  to  leave  to  the  Latin  Church  sole 
possession  of  the  apostolic  inheritance ;  an 
assumption  strikingly  illustrated  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  when  Pope  Alexander  VI,  in 
order  to  settle  amicably  the  rival  claims  of 
Spanish  and  Portuguese  discoverers,  gravely 
divided  the  world  (then  supposed  to  be  flat) 
into  two  parts,  lying  east  and  west  of  a  line 
drawn  through  the  South  Atlantic  ;  assigning 
one-half  of  the  earth  to  each  of  the  claimants.^ 
I  conceive  another  of  these  influences  to 
have  been  the  rise  of  Mohammedanism  and 
the  interposition  of  its  extraordinary  strength, 
as  a  wall  of  adamant,  between  Europe  and 
India.  It  blocked  the  immemorial  highways 
of  commerce  that  had  led,  since  before  the 
dawn  of  history,  to  peaceful  and  profitable 
interchanges    across   the    Indian    Ocean   by 

'  See  Sir  William  Hunter's  "  History  of  British  India,"  Vol. 
I,  Chapter  3. 


292      THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST 

way  of  the  Red  Sea,  or  through  the  Persian 
Gulf  and  over  the  desert  to  Damascus,  or  out 
through  the  Afghan  passes,  by  way  of  the 
Caspian,  to  the  Levant  and  Venice.  One  by 
one  these  pathways  were  blocked  by  the 
inflexible  power  of  Islam,  which  itself  became 
a  menace  to  the  peace  of  Europe.  The 
ardour  of  the  Crusades  was  more  than  re- 
ligious devotion  to  the  tomb  of  Christ.  It 
was  an  opportunity  for  Latin  Christianity 
and  Latin  civilization  to  vent  their  scorn  and 
hatred  of  the  Oriental  world  and  all  its 
works.  Still  another  influence  helping  to 
foster  in  Europe  the  spirit  of  Western  sepa- 
ratism was  the  powerful  infusion  of  Teutonic, 
Norse  and  Saxon  elements  into  Latin  civili- 
zation. These  strains  had  in  them  no  ap- 
preciable suggestion  of  the  East.  They 
were,  in  effect,  anti-Oriental.  They  repre- 
sented other  traditions,  other  mythologies, 
other  world-views:  the  bold  realism,  the 
hardihood,  the  practical  resource  to  which 
the  meditative  East  was  both  incompre- 
hensible and  contemptible.  In  this  they 
difTered  from  the  Celtic  element  in  European 


THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF  CHRIST      293 

civilization,  which  ever  has  retained  vestiges 
of  a  birthright  in  the  nearer  East,  vestiges 
that  may  be  traced  in  gentle  and  spiritual 
traits  of  French  and  Irish  character,  as  well 
as  in  the  tender  beauty  of  the  Galilean  liturgy 
reflecting  the  semi-Oriental  influence  of  Basil 
and  Chrysostom. 

With  the  revival  of  letters  and  the  growth 
of  commercial  institutions  in  England  and 
the  Netherlands  came  a  new  birth  of  in- 
terest in  the  forgotten  East.  The  voyages 
of  Drake  and  Frobisher  were  not  vague 
plunges  into  the  unknown.  They  were 
parts  of  a  consistent  policy  to  discover 
new  trade  routes  to  the  Spice  Archipelago 
and  the  fabulous  treasuries  of  the  Orient. 
With  the  discovery  of  those  routes,  and,  with 
them,  the  discovery  of  the  unexploited  com- 
mercial possibilities  of  the  East,  the  old  re- 
ligious antipathy  was  amalgamated  with  the 
rancour  of  avarice,  forming  that  singular 
blend  of  distrust  and  contempt  which,  until 
recently,  has  been  the  habitual  attitude  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  mind  towards  the  alien  East. 
When,     late     in     the     eighteenth     century, 


294      THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST 

the  Spirit  of  missions  awoke  in  England,  it  is 
only  necessary  to  recall  the  abhorrence  ex- 
pressed towards  it  by  many  in  and  out  of  the 
Church  to  perceive  how  far  had  advanced 
the  alienation  of  the  West  from  the  East. 
Clearly  Christianity  had  come  to  be  reckoned 
as  an  indigenous  possession  of  the  West,  in 
which  the  alien  could  claim  no  part.  Such 
being  the  received  opinion,  it  was  inevitable 
that,  when  the  evangelical  consciousness  of 
Europe  and  America  at  length  realized  and 
undertook  the  duty  of  world-Christianization, 
the  underlying  presupposition  was  that  Euro- 
pean and  American  Christianity,  as  expressed 
in  the  accepted  formulas  of  the  sects  and  ex- 
hibited in  their  institutions  of  worship  and 
discipline,  must  be  the  final  message  to  the 
world.  In  that  spirit  it  was  carried  to  the 
East ;  nor  could  it,  in  the  nature  of  the  case, 
have  been  carried  in  any  other  spirit  than 
that.  The  hope  that  animated  its  bearers 
was,  if  not  a  purely  denominational  hope, 
one  that  looked  only  for  the  propagation  of 
the  same  type  of  Christianity  as  that  which 
was  preached  and  received  in  London  and 


THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST      295 

New  York.  The  evidence  of  this  is  seen  in 
the  prevaihng  methods  of  missionary  poHcy 
in  the  East  directed  by  boards  of  overseers 
in  Europe  and  America.  That  eminently 
rational  policy  has  been  to  proceed  abroad 
upon  lines  tested  and  approved  at  home. 
Hence  we  find  every  form  of  ecclesiastical 
polity  known  to  Occidentals  reproduced  east 
of  Aden,  and  the  superscription  of  every 
party  that  has  arisen  in  the  Church  at  home 
inscribed  on  the  several  groups  of  converts 
collected  abroad.  Again  I  say,  it  could  not 
have  been  otherwise,  and  the  glorious  har- 
vests  already  garnered  show  that  this  policy 
of  missions,  based  on  the  Protestant  status 
qtio,  has  been  used  of  God  as  a  channel  of 
ecumenical  grace. 

But  while  this  policy  is  still  in  its  strength, 
administered  from  the  highest  motives,  and 
corroborated  by  large  results,  a  flood  of  new 
suggestion  is  breaking  upon  us  in  these  latter 
days.  The  glory  of  a  more  splendid  inter- 
pretation of  the  ideal  of  the  Church  of  Christ 
is  lighting  up  the  field  of  thought.  Not  yet 
has   the  full-orbed  definition  of   that  vision 


296      THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF  CHRIST 

risen  into  view.  No  man  may  yet  venture 
to  describe  that  larger  Church  of  Christ  as  if 
it  were  already  accomplished.  But  the  East- 
ern sky  is  full  of  light,  and  one  feels  that  the 
sunrise  may  be  near.  Since  the  twentieth 
century  opened,  the  making  of  world-history 
has  proceeded  with  unusual  rapidity.  Events 
of  the  first  magnitude  have  occurred,  or  are 
in  process,  the  outcome  of  which  may  be  a 
readjustment  of  traditional  relations  and  the 
establishment  of  a  7nodus  vivendi  between 
Asia  and  Europe  not  recognized,  by  the 
pioneers  of  Western  missionary  operations 
in  the  East,  as  within  the  bounds  of  possi- 
bility. 

For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  modern 
civilization  an  Eastern  nation  has  checked 
Occidental  aggression,  repelling  the  advance 
of  a  power  superior  in  resources,  entrenched 
amid  European  alliances  and  venerating  the 
Christian  religion.  An  exhibition,  unparal- 
leled in  history,  has  occurred,  of  the  moral 
greatness  attainable  by  a  nation  without  the 
help  of  Christianity.  Out  of  a  religious  an- 
cestry   traditionally   described    by   Western 


THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST      297 

Opinion  as  "  the  base  and  black  ancestry  of 
heathenism  "  has  emerged  a  type  of  manhood 
which  by  magnanimity,  self-restraint,  ethical 
intelligence  and  equity  has  exalted  the  ideals 
of  the  human  race.  The  incredulity  of  Jew- 
ish separatism  once  asked  :  Can  any  good 
thing  come  out  of  Nazareth  ?  It  would  be 
according  to  the  tradition  of  Western  sepa- 
ratism if  one  should  ask  :  Can  any  good 
thing  come  out  of  Buddhism  and  Shinto? 
Nevertheless  the  facts  are  spread  before  the 
world ;  it  is  for  us  to  prepare  an  hypothesis 
large  enough  to  contain  them.  Can  any  na- 
tion foster  and  display  such  traits  of  character 
without  some  access  to  the  Eternal  Fountain 
of  Good,  and  some  inspiration  from  the  heart 
of  God  ?  As  these  and  many  other  surpris- 
ing manifestations  of  the  soul  of  the  East 
appear,  new  trains  of  thought  are  suggested  ; 
stirring  the  mind  with  prophetic  intimations, 
disturbing  the  serenity  of  old  opinions ; 
dismissing  unenlightened  prejudices.  We 
are  awaking  to  the  thought  that  there  are  ten 
times  as  many  Orientals  as  Occidentals,  and 
that  their  relation  to  the  kingdom  of  God,  to 


298      THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST 

say  nothing  of  the  kingdoms  of  this  world, 
may  no  longer  be  determined  wholly  by  the 
thinking  and  action  of  the  West.  In  many 
minds  the  doubt  rises  whether,  in  our  con- 
ventional theory  of  the  Christianization  of 
the  world,  we  have  not  been  governed  too 
much  by  Anglo-Saxon  pride,  in  planning  how 
this  is  to  be  done  ;  as  if,  assuredly  and  only, 
by  us  and  by  the  action  of  Westernizing 
forces  upon  Oriental  consciousness.  In  view 
of  fundamental  readjustments  of  world  inter- 
ests now  in  process,  considerations  that  once 
would  have  been  dismissed  as  idle  fancies, 
command  attention.  Never  was  it  more 
rational  than  now  to  live  with  an  open  mind, 
touching  the  future  development  of  the  w  orld. 
Never  was  it  more  wise  to  recognize,  as  the 
great  unknown  quantity  in  the  present  situ- 
ation, God's  unlimited  power  to  bring  about 
results  in  ways  that,  by  an  earlier  age,  could 
not  have  been  anticipated.  As  the  familiar 
world-programme  of  orthodoxy  is  superseded 
by  the  breaking  in  of  unprecedented  events 
and  the  appearance  of  new  forces,  one  seems 
to  hear,  like  solemn  music,  above  the  world, 


THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST      299 

the  master-word  of  prophecy  :  "  For  My 
thoughts  are  not  your  thoughts,  neither  are 
your  ways  My  ways.  For  as  the  heavens 
are  higher  than  the  earth  so  are  My  ways 
higher  than  your  ways  and  My  thoughts 
than  your  thoughts."  To  those  for  whom  the 
Protestant  status  quo  is  final,  and  whose  con- 
fidence in  the  world-wide  suf^ciency  of  West- 
ern interpretations  of  Christianity  leads  them 
to  ignore  the  individuality  of  the  Oriental 
mind  and  its  indefeasible  needs  and  rights, 
there  is  no  beauty  in  the  vision  of  that  larger 
Church  of  Christ  which  I  am  considering  in 
this  Lecture.  It  suggests  rather  vague  ex- 
pansions beneath  which  is  no  warrant  of  truth ; 
unauthorized  reproductions  of  the  Church  be- 
yond the  confines  of  normal  jurisdiction.  It 
is  far  from  my  purpose  to  debate  with  those 
committed  to  this  view.  It  has  behind  it  an 
impressive  tradition.  But  there  are  many 
minds  from  which  has  departed  the  power 
to  remain  satisfied  with  that  view,  and  to 
which  the  present  state  of  the  world 
suggests  the  most  awakening  possibilities. 
To  those  no  longer  influenced  by  the  prevail- 


300      THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST 

ing  alienation  of  West  from  East  there  is  a 
peculiar  joy  in  witnessing  the  increasing 
self-expression  of  the  Orient.  It  seems  to 
prophesy  of  the  unexhausted  resources  of 
God  in  His  world ;  of  the  immense  reserves 
at  His  command  to  be  liberated  ultimately 
for  the  uses  of  His  kingdom.  As  one  con- 
siders the  present  unfoldings  of  intellectual 
and  moral  strength  in  the  Far  East  and  re- 
members also  the  long  and  patient  labours  of 
Western  Christians  in  Eastern  lands,  planting 
the  seed  of  truth  and  interpreting  the  rela- 
tion of  truth  to  righteousness,  there  spreads 
like  the  rays  before  sunrise  a  new  glory  of 
hope  over  the  problem  of  world-Christianiza- 
tion.  Possibly  God  has  a  greater  way  in 
mind,  whereby  to  Christianize  the  world, 
than  we  of  the  West  have  ever  dreamed  of ; 
a  way  that  shall  recognize  the  age-long 
religious  yearnings  of  the  East  as  we  have 
never  recognized  them.  It  may  be  His  plan 
to  restrict  the  West  to  its  own  place,  making 
it  the  correlate  instead  of  the  controller  of 
the  East.  It  may  be  His  purpose,  through 
the  indigenous  Christianity  of  the  East,  to 


THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST      301 

build  up  that  larger  Church  of  Christ 
wherein,  by  the  growth  of  an  Eastern 
interpretation  of  the  common  revelation 
and  an  Eastern  evolution  of  Christian 
experience,  there  shall  be  accomplished 
a  supplementing  and  enriching  of  the 
religious  life  of  the  world  through  the 
mutual  interaction  of  Eastern  and  Western 
Christianity  in  ways  that  not  Jerusalem,  nor 
Constantinople,  nor  Rome,  nor  Geneva 
could,  by  itself,  accomplish.  ''  God  is  His 
own  interpreter  and  He  will  make  it  plain." 
As  we  begin  to  realize  how  complacently 
and  confidently  we  have  assumed  that  the 
world  can  only  be  Christianized  by  adopting 
our  theologies  and  our  sectarian  forms, 
solemn  questions  suggest  themselves : 
Who  ever  gave  credentials  of  universality 
to  Western  clerical  orders,  or  to  Western 
ecclesiastical  institutions,  or  to  Western 
denominational  confessions  ?  Has  God  ever 
pledged  Himself  to  complete  the  Chris- 
tianizing of  the  world  through  these  means  ? 
Has  God  ever  limited  Himself  to  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  interpretations  of  the  Christian  faith, 


302      THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST 

and  set  aside  as  unusable  those  extraordi- 
nary gifts  of  religious  discernment  that  are 
peculiar  to  the  temperament  of  the  East? 
Has  God  ever  disowned  those  mighty 
religious  aspirations  that  fill  the  old  ethnic 
faiths,  surviving  in  pathetic  vestiges  of  their 
former  majesty  amidst  the  modern  degenera- 
tions of  those  faiths?  Is  He  not,  by  the 
might  of  His  Spirit,  able  to  subdue  and 
purge  and  transform  and  recreate  those 
gifts  and  those  aspirations,  dedicating  them 
to  the  knowledge  and  worship  of  the  Son 
of  God?  St.  Paul,  amidst  the  decay  of 
Israel,  could  cry,  "  Hath  God  cast  away  His 
people?  God  forbid — God  hath  not  cast 
away  His  people  which  He  foreknew ! " ' 
One  who  has  moved  with  a  reverent  mind 
through  the  religious  life  of  the  East,  who 
has  seen  the  tragedy  of  its  enormous 
spiritual  possibility  submerged  beneath  its 
enormous  moral  deficiency,  may  also  cry : 
Nay !  God  hath  not  cast  away  the  suffering, 
sensitive  soul  of  the  East,  nor  left  Himself 
without  a  witness  in  the  Oriental  conscious- 

*  Romans  ii  :  i,  2, 


THE   LARGER   CHURCH    OF   CHRIST      303 

ness.  Great  are  the  burdens  weighing  down 
the  soul  of  the  East ;  blinding  and  suffocat- 
ing are  the  webs  of  illusion  and  fatalism 
bound  upon  it;  enthralling  is  the  pride  of 
tradition  alienating  it  from  the  name  Chris- 
tian ;  dark  is  the  shadow  of  ethical  obscurity 
enveloping  it.  But  within  it  remains  a  latent 
potency  for  divine  communion  and  divine 
interpretation  that  needs  but  to  be  stirred 
and  to  be  organized  by  the  Spirit  of  God  in 
the  circles  of  culture  to  arrest  degeneration 
and  to  dedicate  the  superb  fabric  of  the 
Oriental  sense  of  religion  to  the  worship  and 
service  of  Jesus  Christ.  Twenty  centuries 
have  passed  since  the  message  of  an 
Oriental  was  heard  in  Ephesus  of  the 
Lesser  Asia :  crying,  "  Awake  thou  that 
sleepest  and  arise  from  the  dead  and 
Christ  shall  give  thee  light."  Nearer  with 
every  sunrise  comes  the  age  when  brilliant 
leaders  of  Oriental  thought,  themselves 
illumined  by  the  Light  of  the  World  con- 
veyed back  to  the  East  by  faithful  disciples 
from  the  West,  shall  bear  the  same  message 
through  the  student  circles  of  the  Greater 


304      THE   LARGER   CHURCH    OF   CHRIST 

Asia  :  *'  Awake  thou  that  sleepest  and  arise 
from  the  dead,  and  Christ  shall  give  thee 
light."  So  shall  the  Christianization  of  the 
East  be  undertaken  by  Orientals.  So  shall  the 
religious  thinking  of  the  East  be  directed  by 
Orientals.  So  shall  there  come  to  pass  an 
Eastern  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  offering  Him 
more  precious  gifts,  yet  not  less  char- 
acteristic, than  the  gold  and  frankincense 
and  myrrh  of  the  Persian  Magi.  So  shall 
there  be  at  last  that  larger  Church,  that  Holy 
Church  throughout  all  the  world,  that 
correspondence  and  communion  of  w^orld 
elements  around  the  common  altar  of  a 
Semitic  faith ;  fulfilling  the  prophecy  of  the 
Saviour:  '*  I  say  unto  you  that  many  shall 
come  from  the  East  and  West  and  shall  sit 
down  with  Abraham,  and  Isaac  and  Jacob  in 
the  kingdom  of  heaven."^ 

Meanwhile,  it  is  we  of  the  West  who  must 
gain  breadth  and  discipline  and  vision  that 
we  may  deal  with  this  whole  matter  worthily 
and  adequately. 

Three  things  the  Christianity  of  the  West 

•Matt.  8:  II. 


THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST      305 

needs,  if  it  would  be  ready,  in  the  day  of  the 
Lord,  to  meet  and  greet  the  next  great 
interpretation  of  the  churchly  ideal.  It 
needs  the  chastening  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
spirit ;  it  needs  to  realize  the  democracy  of 
nations ;  it  needs  to  learn  respect  for 
Oriental  national  aims,  and  religious  aspira- 
tions. 

The  Anglo-Saxon  spirit  is  rich  in  qualities 
that  make  for  efficiency,  it  is  capable  of 
splendid  exhibitions  of  physical  and  moral 
courage ;  it  is  also  capable  of  presumption 
and  provincialism.  It  is  a  haughty  race- 
spirit,  aggressive,  given  to  threatening,  in- 
clined to  war,  satisfied  with  itself,  prone  to 
intolerance.  The  institutions  of  homogene- 
ous peoples  are  impregnated  with  the  national 
spirit,  and,  in  some  degree,  exhibit  it.  Insti- 
tutions of  religion  are  no  exception.  The 
Christianity  of  a  person,  a  household,  a 
church  or  a  nation  tends  to  reflect  the  na- 
tional spirit,  alike  in  its  strength  and  in  its 
weakness.  There  are  many  ancestral  quali- 
ties of  Anglo-Saxonism  that  adorn  the  doc- 
trine of  God  and  commend  it  to  the  non- 


3o6      THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST 

Christian  world.  Even  some  of  its  severer 
qualities  have  won  the  confidence  and  love 
of  Orientals.  Indians  revered  the  inflexible 
manliness  of  Lord  John  Lawrence.  But  the 
besetting  sin  of  Anglo-Saxonism  in  the  East 
is  arrogance  that  disdains  what  it  conquers, 
and  wounds  when  it  essays  to  help.  The 
unconscious  reflection  of  that  race-spirit  in 
some  religious  efforts  of  the  West  in  the 
East  has  hardened  hearts  that  might  be  won 
and  widened  chasms  that  might  be  bridged 
by  substituting  for  the  authority  of  Church- 
manship  and  the  irritating  assumption  of 
racial  superiority,  the  perfect  chivalry  and 
cosmopolitanism  of  Him  who  was  meek  and 
lowly  in  heart.  The  democracy  of  nations  is 
a  truth  that  the  West  is  slow  of  heart  to  be- 
lieve. In  the  soul  of  the  West  lives  the 
dream  of  a  divine  vocation  of  empire.  It  is 
a  Roman  inheritance.  Through  the  inspira- 
tion of  that  dream  great  results  of  good  and 
evil  have  followed.  The  development  of  the 
resources  of  the  world  has  been  hastened. 
The  spread  of  knowledge  has  been  advanced. 
The  conception  of  international  relationships 


THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST      307 

has  been  evolved.  But  respect  for  Oriental 
national  aims  and  religious  aspirations  has 
had  small  place  in  Western  thinking.  The 
momentous  condition  of  the  world  at  this 
time  indicates  an  approaching  change.  None 
may  safely  prophesy  the  nature  of  that 
change,  but,  if  we  believe  in  the  present 
activity  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  we  may  look 
for  great  readjustments  in  Western  thinking, 
for  the  chastening  of  inadmissible  ambitions, 
and  for  the  growing  influence  of  Christ  in 
the  East.  Christ  and  Christianity  belong 
naturally  to  the  East.  Friction  with  the 
West  has  arrested  the  progress  of  a  religion 
that  lends  itself  to  all  that  is  most  brilliant  in 
Oriental  discernment  and  precious  to  Oriental 
sentiment.  The  readjustment  of  world  re- 
lationships upon  a  basis  of  equity  would 
be  followed  by  the  advance  of  Christianity 
among  educated  Asiatics,  and  the  growth  of 
an  Eastern  Church  of  Christ. 

When  we  of  the  West  broaden  our  con- 
ception of  the  Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God 
sufficiently  to  view  it  in  its  world-wide  sig- 
nificance, with  eyes  purged  of  racial  preju- 


3o8      THE   LARGER   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST 

dice  and  hearts  from  which  all  arrogance  is 
put  away,  then  shall  we  be  prepared  for  the 
larger  Church  of  Christ  in  which  East  and 
West  are  coequal  and  reciprocal.  We  shall 
realize  the  majesty,  the  cosmic  greatness, 
the  consolation  and  the  joy  of  that  larger 
Church.  We  shall  see  that  that,  and  that 
alone,  is  an  ideal  of  the  Christian  Church 
that  measures  up  to  the  cosmopolitanism  of 
Jesus  Christ;  that  meets  the  greatness  of 
His  Incarnation  and  His  Sacrifice,  that  satis- 
fies the  travail  of  His  soul,  that  crowns  Him 
with  many  crowns.  That  larger  Church  of 
Christ,  in  her  irenic  completeness,  shall  as- 
similate with  the  ideals  of  a  regenerated 
Orientalism  whatsoever  is  of  the  truth  in  the 
essence  of  all  Western  ideals — of  England 
and  America  ;  of  Germany  and  France  and 
Switzerland;  of  Rome,  of  Constantinople, 
even  of  Jerusalem.  It  shall  be  upon  earth 
the  prophecy  of  the  eternal  consummation  : 

"  I  beheld,  and  lo  !  a  great  multitude  which 
no  man  could  number,  of  all  nations  and 
kindreds,  and  people,  and  tongues,  stood 
before    the    throne    and   before   the    Lamb. 


THE   LARGER   CHURCH    OF   CHRIST      309 

These  are  they  which  came  out  of  great 
tribulation,  and  have  washed  their  robes, 
and  made  them  white  in  the  Blood  of  the 
Lamb.  Therefore  are  they  before  the  throne, 
and  He  that  sitteth  on  the  throne  shall  dwell 
among  them.  They  shall  hunger  no  more, 
neither  thirst  any  more ;  neither  shall  the 
sun  light  on  them,  nor  any  heat.  For  the 
Lamb  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  throne 
shall  feed  them,  and  shall  lead  them  unto 
living  fountains  of  waters ;  and  God  shall 
wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes." 


Date  Due 

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